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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

L-3 (SS-42)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Papa
L-1 Class Submarine: Laid down, 18 April 1914, at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA.; Launched, 15 March 1915; Commissioned, USS L-3, 22 April 1916; Designated (SS-42), 17 July 1920; Placed in commission, in ordinary, 1 June 1921 at Philadelphia Navy Yard; Returned to full commission, 26 January 1922; Decommissioned, 11 June 1923, at Norfolk, VA.; Laid up in the Reserve Fleet; Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown); Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 28 November 1933.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 450 t., Submerged: 548 t..; Length 167' 5"; Beam 17' 5"; Draft 13' 7"; Speed, Surfaced 14 kts, Submerged 10.5 kts; Depth Limit 200'; Complement 2 Officers, 26 Enlisted; Armament, four 18", torpedo tubes, 8 torpedoes, one 3"/23 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel-electric, New London Ship and Engine Co. diesel engine, HP 900, Fuel Capacity, 18,977 gal., Electro Dynamic Co. electric motor, HP 680, Battery Cells 120, single propeller.
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L-3 77k L-3 (SS-42) running trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, in September 1915.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51126.
L-3 65k Bow view of theL-3 (SS-42) with several schooners for company, in 1916. She operated along the Atlantic coast from New England to Florida developing new techniques of undersea warfare, until April 1917.
U.S. Navy photo. Text courtesy of DANFS.
L-1 & 3 109k L-1 (SS-40) and L-3 (SS-42) port side view anchored off of Hampton Roads, December 13, 1916.
 		US Navy photo # 19-N-1893, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
L-3 86k L-3 (SS-42) port side view, underway off of Hampton Roads, December 13, 1916.
 		US Navy photo # 80-G-1025030, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
SS-40 & 4273k Scoter (American Motor Boat, 1916) passing L-1 (SS-40) while underway, probably in 1916. L-3 (SS-42) and Monaghan (DD-32) are in the background. This pleasure craft, built by George Lawley & Son of Neponset, Massachusetts, became Scoter (SP-20) in 1917.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 65071.
L-boats46k"Officials of the City of Havana leaving the submarine L-2 (SS-41) after a ceremonious visit to a group of L-boats of the U.S. submarine division on it's recent visit to the Cuban capital. Said to have been the first time American submarines have visited that city."
Photo by Underwood & Underwood, courtesy of memory.loc.gov. Text courtesy of N.Y. Times, 14 January 1917, Page 3. Photo added 02/16/08.
L-3 104k L-3 (SS-42) with several other submarines at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 18 July 1917. In the center background are Floating Derrick # 5 and K-6 (SS-37). Note L-3's periscopes.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51127.
L-3 43k L-3 (SS-42) bow view under way off Plymouth England, August 1918. The contributors father, Chester Claude Farmer, reported aboard as Gunners Mate (Torpedoes) 1/c in 1917, was made Warrant Gunner, then ENS(T) and LTJG(T) in her before she decommissioned. He went on to command three or four of the older boats out of Groton in the early 20's.
US Navy photo courtesy of Claude S. Farmer, Jr. CDR, USN (Ret).
L-3/L-11/L-10/L-4/L-9 67k L-3 (SS-42), L-11 (SS-51), L-10 (SS-50), L-4 (SS-43) and L-9 (SS-49), alongside their tender in Great Britain during World War I.
They display the most important war modifications: the permanent open chariot bridge & retractable (housing) periscopes. L-10 shows three fixed-spot hydrophones forward, presumably comprising a K-tube.
 Partial text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. US Navy photo NH 60252, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center
L-3 69k L-3 (SS-42) underway off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918. Among the camouflaged ships in the distance are a U.S. Navy destroyer (center) and an oil tanker (right).
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51129.
L-3 92k L-3 (SS-42) leading a column of L class (SS-40/51) submarines, off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51130.
L-3 52k View on L-3's (SS-42) deck, looking aft toward the fairwater, while the submarine was underway off Berehaven, Ireland, in 1918. Note L-3's 3"/23 deck gun in retracted position just forward of the fairwater.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 63176.
L-3 163k View looking forward as L-3(SS-42) prepares to submerge, off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918. Note diving planes deploying on either side of the bow; "SC Tube" hydrophone and diagonal white stripe (probably a recognition marking) on the foredeck.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51131.
L-3 109k Crewman sends a message to another submarine (visible in the center distance) using semaphore flags, during operations off Berehaven, Ireland in 1918. Note "SC Tube" type hydrophone and white stripe (probably a recognition marking) on L-3's(SS-42) foredeck.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51160.
L-3 89k View of the L-3's (SS-42) foredeck, taken while running on the surface off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918. Note "SC Tube" type hydrophone.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51132.
L-3 & 9 100k View of the L-9 (SS-49), at right and L-3 (SS-42) at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa February 1919.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51166.
L-3 171k Starboard side view of the L-3 (SS-42) off Provincetown, Mass., circa 1920-23.
 		US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
L-3 85k Prewar U.S. submarine bridges were very small to limit underwater drag. With her enlarged chariot bridge, L-3 (SS-42) contrasts with the more streamlined L-9 (SS-49) in this 1918 photo(which was less suited to protracted surface runs).
Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
SS-4189k L-class class submarines tied up at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, with a harbor tug outboard, circa February 1919. Submarines are (from left to right):
L-3 (SS-42);
L-9 (SS-49);
L-11 (SS-51); and
L-2 (SS-41).
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51167.
L-3, 9 & 11 91k L-3 (SS-42) - left; L-9 (SS-49) - center; and L-11 (SS-51) - right, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, circa February 1919. "Homeward-bound" pennant flying from L-9's periscope indicates that this photo may have been taken as the submarines arrived home following World War I service in British waters.
US Naval Historical Center photo # NH 51168.
L-3 149k Kanawha (AO-1) undergoing repairs in drydock, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 3 March 1919. L-3 (SS-42) is alongside, at left. Note Kanawha's rudder and port side propeller, and propellers on L-3, whose rudder and after diving planes have been removed. Kanawha is still painted in World War I pattern camouflage. Taken by Yard Photographer J.W. Replogle.
US Naval Historical Center photo # NH 52222.
L-3 117k Kanawha (AO-1) undergoing repairs in drydock, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, 3 March 1919. L-3 (SS-42) is alongside, at left. Two submarines are also in the drydock, with L-3 in the foreground. Note Kanawha's rudder and port side propeller, and propellers on L-3, whose rudder and after diving planes have been removed. Kanawha is still painted in World War I pattern camouflage. Taken by Yard Photographer J.W. Replogle.
US Naval Historical Center photo # NH 52221.
View the L-3 (SS-42)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
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Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Through the Looking Glass, a Historic Look at Submarines
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