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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

O-4 (SS-65)

Radio Call Sign: November - Alpha - Mike - Xray
O Class Submarine: Laid down, 4 December 1916, at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA.; Launched, 20 October 1917; Commissioned, USS O-4, 29 May 1918; Designated (SS-65), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 3 June 1931; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet; Recommissioned, 29 January 1941; Decommissioned, 20 September 1945, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, NH.; Struck from the Naval Register, 11 October 1945; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 1 February 1946, to John J. Duane Co.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 521 t., Submerged: 629 t.; Length 172' 4"; Beam 18' 0"; Draft 14' 5"; Speed, Surfaced 14 kts, Submerged 10.5 kts; Operational Depth Limit 200 ft; Complement 2 Officers 27 Enlisted; Armament, four 18", torpedo tubes, 8 torpedoes, one 3"/23 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel-electric, New England Ship and Engine Co, diesels, 880 hp, Fuel Capacity, 21,897 gal.; New York Navy Yard electric motors, 740 hp, Battery Cells 120, single propeller.
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R 1.60k Schley (SS-52) forward looking aft, 9 Jan. 1917.
Note the construction of two other submarines on the ways to the left.
The only other submarines under construction at Fore River were O-3 (SS-64), O-4 (SS-65), O-5 (SS-66), & O-6 (SS-67), which were all laid down between 2 thru 8 December 1916. 		Photo & text i.d. courtesy of David Johnston (USNR).
US National Archives photo # 19lc 11 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
O-4 49k O-4 (SS-65), on patrol in 1918. A freighter is dimly visible in the right center distance. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 103182. Collection of Christopher H.W. Lloyd. Donated by Virginia Agostini, 1990.
O-4 64k O-4 (SS-65), in coastal waters with many of her crewmen on deck, circa 1918-1919.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 103181. Collection of Christopher H.W. Lloyd. Donated by Virginia Agostini, 1990.
O-4 103k O-4 (SS-65), in drydock at the Charleston Navy Yard, South Carolina, circa 1919.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 103185. Collection of Christopher H.W. Lloyd. Donated by Virginia Agostini, 1990.
O-boats 659k A steel sea monster, amphibious and formidable, is Uncle Sam's newest submarine just home from war duty. The great fin rudders stabilize the boat under water and assist in speedy submerging. They fold up snugly against the sides when the "sub." is under way. Several of these new O-boats are making their initial New York appearance in the Naval Review. Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo from the New-York Tribune. (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 27 April 1919, Image 47, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
O-boats 85k Submarine Division 8,Commander Guy E. Davis commanding. Nine of the Division's ten O-boats at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 16 August 1921. Panoramic photograph by Crosby, "Naval Photographer", 11 Portland Street, Boston. Submarines in the front row are (from left to right): O-3 (SS-64), O-6 (SS-67), O-9 (SS-70) and O-1 (SS-62). Those in the second row are (from left to right): O-7 (SS-68), unidentified (either O-2 or O-8), O-5 (SS-66), O-10(SS-71) and O-4 (SS-65). Large four-stacked ship in the left center distance is the U.S. Army Transport Mount Vernon. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 103193.
O4 & 10 83k O-10 (SS-71) looking aft, port side, outboard of the O-4 (SS-65) at the Boston Navy Yard, 28 September, 1922. Note the big insulating fitting at the bow, which terminates the forward radio loop antenna. Note that O-4's 3"/23 gun is in the extended (operating) position, while that on O-10 is retracted. Four-funneled ship in the right distance is the former U.S. Army Transport Mount Vernon. Partial text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. US Navy photo # NH 44548, & partial text courtesy of the USNHC.
O-10 130k Port side view of the O-10 (SS-71) taken at the Boston Navy Yard on 28 September 1922. The submarine is tied up outboard of O-4 (SS-65) and a covered lighter at Pier 10. Boston Navy Yard photo # 13813-3 Boston, National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-13813. Photo courtesy of Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard.
O-10 105k Bow on view, starboard side of the O-10 (SS-71) taken at the Boston Navy Yard on 28 September 1922. The submarine is tied up outboard of O-4 (SS-65) and a covered lighter at Pier 10. Boston Navy Yard photo # 13813-4 Boston, National Historical Park Collection, NPS Cat. No. BOSTS-13813. Photo courtesy of Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard.
O-4 125k O-4 (SS-65), underway, probably on the Thames River at New London CT., photographed during the 1920s. US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
O-4 174k The O-4 (SS-65), one of the small undersea craft of the O-Boats series built during WW I, displaced only 480 tons on the surface, less than half of modern subs. Recommissioned in 1930, however, they have proved valuable as training an experimental vessels. Equipped with four torpedo tubes and one anti aircraft machine gun, they can give valuable experience to the new submariners of the U.S. Navy. Text courtesy of CARD-O chewing gum. Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
Menhaden263kTen photo PDF of on board life on the O-4 (SS-65).Photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
O-4 195k O-4 (SS-65), underway, date and place unknown. US Navy photo courtesy of Hyperwar US Navy in WWII.
O-4 94k Frederick Schmoe, crewman of the O-4 (SS-65), is looking out of the hatch of the boat on 12 March 1928. The boat is moored at the Submarine Base New London, Connecticut. US Navy and Marine Corps Museum/Naval Aviation Museum, Photo No. 1985.130.013, courtesy of Mike Green.
O-4 386k O-4 (SS-65) roaring through the ocean off New London, CT, in 1942. Photographer: Dimitri Kessel, courtesy of time.com. via images.google.com & Life.
View the O-4 (SS-65)
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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