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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

L-9 (SS-49)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Victor
L-1 Class Submarine: Laid down, 2 November 1914, at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA.; Launched, 27 October 1915; Commissioned, USS L-9, 4 August 1916; Designated (SS-49), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 4 May 1923, at Hampton Roads; Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown); Final Disposition, scrapped, 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 & 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 9 82k L-9 (SS-49) underway, probably while running trials in 1916. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 63383.
Pennell 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.
Tonopah 496k A MOTHER SEADOG GUARDING HER PUPPIES
This interesting photograph was taken within the Charlestown Navy Yard, where the United States submarine tender Tonopah (M-8) lies at anchor with her undersea charges, comprising submarine fleet No.3, of the North Atlantic fleet.
Probable submarines are the E.B. designed L-boats (SS-40 / 43 & 49 / 51), [L-1 thru 4 & 9 thru 11.]		Image and text provided by Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA.
Photo from Evening Public Ledger.(Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 02 June 1917, Postscript Edition, Pictorial Section, Image 19, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
Tonopah, L 9 & 11 96k View on the Tonopah's (M-8) foredeck, showing 12" guns and crewmen, taken while she was serving as submarine tender at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, circa 1917. Submarines alongside are L-11 (SS-51) and L-9 (SS-49). Note the workbench, with vise attached, in the left foreground. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 45438.
L 9 - 11 100k Circa December 1917 - January 1918 photo of the L-9 (SS-49), L-10 (SS-50) & L-11 (SS-51) wearing the A.L. of WW I, at Portsmouth, New Hampshire. US Navy photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
L- boats 753k Sack Time. Typical of the subject submarines, here men are stacked four high on canvas fold away bunks aboard an American L-boat in the European theater. Photo from Illustrated London News, 28 September, 1918, courtesy of Beneath the Surface: World War I Submarines Built in Seattle and Vancouver by Bill Lightfoot.
Photo added 05/13/13.
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 Naval Historical Center # NH 60252.
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-51,50,40, 49 & 4189k L-boats alongside Bushnell (AS-2) at Bantry Bay, Ireland, in 1918. These submarines are, from left to right:
unidentified submarine;
L-11 (SS-51),
L-10 (SS-50),
L-1 (SS-40),
L-9 (SS-49)&
L-2 (SS-41).
Identification marks painted on these "boats"' fairwaters include the letter "A", to distinguish them from British L-boats . 		U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51172.
SS-50,40, 49 & 4380k L-boats alongside Bushnell (AS-2) at Bantry Bay, Ireland, in 1918. These submarines are, from left to right:
unidentified submarine;
L-1 (SS-40),
L-10 (SS-50),
L-4 (SS-43)&
L-9 (SS-49).		U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51171.
SS-50,40, 49 & 4387k L-boats alongside Bushnell (AS-2) at Bantry Bay, Ireland, in 1918. These submarines are, from left to right:
unidentified submarine;
L-1 (SS-40),
L-10 (SS-50),
L-4 (SS-43)&
L-9 (SS-49).
Note the smoke from the submarines' engines.		U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51170.
L-Boats101k Bushnell (AS-2) lifting L-2 (SS-41) partially out of the water, while in an Irish port during World War I. Moored to Bushnell's port side are (from left to right):
L-4 (SS-43),
L-1 (SS-40),
& L-9 (SS-49).		Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 61684.
L-9 133k L-9 (SS-49), during World War I at Bantry Bay, Ireland. The prefix "A" denoted "American" as the British also had L-Boats in the area.
L-9 shows typical war modifications: a chariot bridge and retractable (housing) periscopes. 		Partial text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
US National Archives photo 80-G-1025041, a US Navy photo now in the collections of the US National Archives, contributed by Joe Radigan, MACM, USN Ret.
L-9& 11 583k AMERICAN SUBMARINES return to the base to "feed." A School of U.S. subs alongside their mother ship at an advance base on the Irish coast.
L-9 (SS-49) is the second submarine on the right, what might be L-11 (SS-51) is the second submarine on the left.		Image and text provided by Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA.
Photo & text by Evening Public Ledger. (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 23 January 1919, Night Extra Closing Stock Prices, Image 20, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
SS-4189kL-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 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, 9 & 11 100k 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-9/ L-11 517k AMERICAN U-BOATS BACK FROM THE WAR
After 15 months hunting of German U-boats in the Irish Sea, the flotilla of submarines shown above returned to the League Island navy yard at Philadelphia. The L-11 (SS-51), (third from left) had many desperate encounters with the enemy boats, including a fight below the surface with a Hun sub, which L-11 subsequently vanquished.
L-9 (SS-49) is the second boat to the left, along with two unidentified submarines. 		US Navy photo.
Image and text provided by University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY.
Photo courtesy of The Citizen. (Berea, Ky.) 1899-1958, 20 March 1919, Image 1, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
L-9& 11 513k AMERICAN SUBMARINES BACK FROM WAR ZONE
Four of America's Latest type submerslbles which have seen 24 months of active service in the war zone have returned and are here shown anchored in the navy yard at Norfolk, Va.
L-9 (SS-49) is the first submarine on the left.		Image and text provided by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE.
Photo & text by The North Platte Semi-Weekly Tribune. (North Platte, Neb.) 1895-1922, 29 August 1919, Image 6, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
View the L-9 (SS-49)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable to this Vessel
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
PigBoats.COM TM, a Historic Look at Submarines
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