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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

L-7 (SS-46)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Tango

L-5 Class Submarine: Laid down, 2 June 1914, at Craig Shipbuilding Co., Long Beach, CA.; Launched, 28 September 1916; Commissioned, USS L-7, 7 December 1917; Designated (SS-46), 17 July 1920; After a period of commission in ordinary early in 1922, L-7 was returned to full commission on 1 July 1922; Decommissioned, and struck from the Naval Register, 15 November 1922, at Hampton Roads; Struck from the Naval Register, 20 March 1925; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 21 December 1925, to M. Samuel & Sons.
Partial data submitted by Yves Hubert.

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.

Click On Image For Full Size	Size	Image Description	Source
0804607	65k	The L-7 (SS-46) was launched 28 September 1916 & sponsored by Mrs. William B. Forgarty, (Sarah Lloyd), wife of Naval Constructor W. B. Fogarty, U. S. Navy, Superintending Constructor.	Photo courtesy of findagrave.com
	127k	What looks to be L-class (SS-40/51) submarines in dry dock, by the artist Joseph Pennell, 1917.	Photo # 3c19552v, LC-USZ62-119552. Photograph courtesy of memory.loc.gov.
	2.00k	The submarine L-7 (SS-46) with L-6 (SS-45) inboard berthed at Mare Island on 14 April 1918. Yale (ID-1672) and Charles (ID-1298) are to the right.	USN Photo # 4038, courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
	1.90k	Stern view of L-7 (SS-46) outboard of L-6 (SS-45) berthed at Mare Island on 14 April 1918.	USN Photo # 4038, courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
	1.30k	L-7 (SS-46) in the Mare Island channel on 15 April 1918.	NARA # 19-N-7228, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives courtesy of Darryl L. Baker. Photo i.d. courtey of Darryl L. Baker & David Johnston
	2.50k	L-7 (SS-46) in the Mare Island channel on 15 April 1918.	USN Photo # 3905, courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
	103k	L-7 (SS-46) bow view at Long Beach California, 3 June 1918. Note that she still has an open bridge.	USN photo from NARA # 19-N-1160, courtesy of Daniel Dunham. Partial text courtesy of USNHC photo # NH 81353.
	750k	The Alert (AS-4) and two of her 'pigs' in Bermuda, L-5 (SS-44), L-6 (SS-45), L-7 (SS-46) & L-8 (SS-48).	Photo i.d. courtesy of Ric Hedman & David Johnston Photo courtesy of Kristina Magill via Gary Priolo.
	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.
	89k	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.
	35k	L-6 (SS-45), L-8 (SS-48), and L-7 (SS-46) at San Pedro, circa 1919 - 1922.	Photo i.d. courtesy of Ric Hedman. Photo courtesy of Ms. Patricia Kipp Combs.
	623k	L-5 (SS-44), L-6 (SS-45), L-7 (SS-46) & L-8 (SS-48) at San Pedro, circa 1919 - 1922.	Photo i.d. courtesy of Ric Hedman & David Johnston Photo courtesy of Carlos Manuel Estrela via Fabio Peña.
0804600	2.93	L-7 (SS-46) cruises past 2 battleships. The ship on the left is Texas (BB-35). She is flush decked and the pilothouse is distinctive. The ship at right is either Mississippi (BB-41), or Idaho (BB-42). The shot is not clear enough for an ID to be definitive. The photo is of San Pedro in March to May 1921 as far as my research to goes. Thanks to the California Digital Newspaper Collection, I attached a collection of Shipping News article from the San Pedro News Pilot which places the battleships New Mexico (BB-40), *Mississippi, Texas, Wyoming* (BB-32), Arkansas (BB-33) & New York (BB-34) plus submarines H-2 (SS-29), H-3 (SS-30), H-4 (SS-147), H-5 (SS-148), H-6 (SS-149), H-7 (SS-150), H-8 (SS-151) & H-9 (SS-152), L-6 (SS-45), *L-7* & L-8 (SS-47) with Alert (AS-4) on 11 March 1921. They all were in San Pedro, less *Mississippi*, until 4 May 1921.	Battleship i.d. courtesy of Richard M. Jensen Text i.d. courtesy of Darryl L. Baker. Photo courtesy of Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum via Darryl L. Baker.
	134k	PDF entitled "How the Diesel engine came to America."	Photo courtesy of subvetpaul.com.
0804409	NR	WIRELESS SAYS SUBMARINES ARE ACCOUNTED FOR A1l twelve of the submarines en route from Los Angeles to Hampton Roads, Va., under convoy of the tender Beaver (AS-5), were said at the local submarine base to be accounted for this morning.	Image and text provided by University of Florida. Photo & text by The Lakeland Evening Telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 29 July 1922, Image 1, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
	NR	Starting a 5,000-mile journey, which will end at their own graveyard,twelve H and L type submarines left the Navy base at San Pedro, CA, recently, bound for Hampton Roads, VA. through the Panama Canal. Upon arrival on the East coast they are to be decommissioned and cut up for scrap iron. Eleven of the boats were: H-2 (SS-29), H-3 (SS-30), L-5 (SS-44), L-6 (SS-45), L-7 (SS-46), H-4 (SS-147), H-5 (SS-148), H-6 (SS-149), H-7 (SS-150), H-8 (SS-151), H-9 (SS-152).	Image and text provided by Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA Photo from The Weekly Iberian. (New Iberia, La.) 1894-1946, 19 August 1922, Image 2, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.

View the L-7 (SS-46)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.

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