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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

L-6 (SS-45)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Sierra

L-5 Class Submarine: Laid down, 27 May 1914, at Craig Shipbuilding Co., Long Beach, CA.; Launched, 31 August 1916; Commissioned, USS L-6, 7 December 1917; Designated (SS-45), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, and struck from the Naval Register, 25 November 1922; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 21 December 1925, to M. Samuel & Sons.

Specifications: Displacement, surfaced: 456 t., submerged: 524 t..; Length 165'; Beam 14' 9"; Draft 13' 3"; 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, Busch Sulzer Brothers Diesel Engine Co., diesel engines, 1,200hp, Fuel Capacity, 17,800 gal., Diehl Manufacture Co. electric motors, 800hp, Battery Cells 120, single propeller.

Size	Image Description	Source
24k	L-6 (SS-45), at the California Shipbuilding Co., Long Beach California, June 30, 1917, during her sea trials.	Submitted by Larry Bohn. Courtesy of the Wisconsin Maritime Museum, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, home of the Cobia SS-245.
95k	L-6 (SS-45), possibly at the California Shipbuilding Co., Long Beach California, 1917.	USN photo.
65k	A Mackay style camouflage Tonopah (M-8) taken while she was serving as submarine tender at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 21 December 1917. The submarine alongside is probably an early *L-boat; L-1* (SS-41) or L-4 (SS-45). (Note the misspelling in the caption).	U.S. Navy photo courtesy of National Park Service, Boston National Historical Park Collection, NPS cat. no. BOSTS-14445, submitted by Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard. Photo i.d. courtesy of Aryeh Wetherhorn. Photo added 11/18/06.
90k	San Pedro, Calif. submarine base. From inboard to outboard: F-2 (SS-21), L-6 (SS-45), & what appears to be H-6 (SS-149)?, H-4 (SS-147), R-7 (SS-84). Photo is at or after 30 June 1921 through 1 July 1922. The *R-7* had arrived from the Panama Canal then and the *L-6* was placed in commission, in ordinary, 24 March 1922; returned to full commission 1 July; and sailed for the east coast the same month. All the *H-class* boats left on 25 July 1922 for the east coast as well. Notice that the other boats seem higher out of the water, which is indicative of the *H-class* boats which had a higher beam than the *F & L-classes*. The boats behind this group are too far away to i.d. properly.	US Navy photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri. Partial text courtesy of DANFS. Photo i.d. courtesy of Ric Hedmen.
46k	L-6 (SS-45), at Mare Island Nay Yard, Vallejo, CA., 15 April 1918.	NARA # 19-N-7228, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.
35k	L-6 (SS-45), L-8 (SS-48), and L-7 (SS-46) possibly at Ponta Delgada, Azores in early November 1918, with Submarine Division 6 just prior to the signing of the Armistice 11 November.	Text courtesy of DANFS. Photo courtesy of Ms. Patricia Kipp Combs.
97k	Submarines at a West Coast port, circa 1919-1922. The Lake type L-8 (SS-48) is at the outboard (left) end of the nest, with her sister, L-7 (SS-46), in the middle (3rd from left). H-3 (SS-30) is between them, with another Electric Boat Company submarine second from right. The inboard (right) "boat" and that in the foreground are the other two units of the Lake-designed *L-5 class; L-5* (SS-44) and L-6 (SS-45). Note piloting station details, periscope, and wide deck of the Lake type *L-boat* in the foreground.	USNHC photo # NH 103256. Collection of Chief Engineman Virgil Breland, USN. Donated by Mrs. E.H. Breland, 1979.
97k	Submarines at a West Coast port, circa 1919-1922. The Lake type L-8 (SS-48) is at the outboard (left) end of the nest, with her sister, L-7 (SS-46), in the middle (3rd from left). H-3 (SS-30) is between them, with another Electric Boat Company submarine second from right. The inboard (right) "boat" and that in the foreground are the other two units of the Lake-designed *L-5 class; L-5* (SS-44) and L-6 (SS-45). Note the "Y-tube" hydrophone mounted on the bow of the submarine in the foreground.	USNHC photo # NH 103255. Collection of Chief Engineman Virgil Breland, USN. Donated by Mrs. E.H. Breland, 1979.

View the L-6 (SS-45)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
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Through the Looking Glass, a Historic Look at Submarines

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