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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

S-1 (SS-105)

S-1 Class Submarine (Holland-type): Laid down, 11 December 1917, at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA.; Launched, 26 October 1918; Commissioned, USS S-1, 5 June 1920; Redesignated USS S-1 (SS-105), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 20 October 1937; Recommissioned, 16 October 1940; Decommissioned 20 April 1942, transferred to the United Kingdom, and commissioned HMS P-552; Struck from the Naval Register, 24 June 1942; Returned to US custody, 16 October 1944, at Durban, Natal, Union of South Africa; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 20 July 1945, and scraped 14 September 1945.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 854 t., Submerged: 1062 t.; Length 219' 3" ; Beam 20' 8"; Draft 15' 11"(mean); Speed, surfaced 14.5 kts, submerged 11 kts; Complement 4 Officers, 34 Enlisted; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 4"/50 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel electric, New London Ship & Engine Co., diesel engines, HP 1200, Fuel capacity, 41,921 gal.; Electro Dynamic Co., electric motors, HP 1500, Battery cells 120, twin propellers.
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T-1 106k Ships fitting out at the Fore River shipyard, 19 March 1918. The six destroyers are Little (DD-79), Kimberly (DD-80), Sigourney (DD-81), Gregory (DD-82), Colhoun (DD-85) and Stevens (DD-86), which had builder's hull numbers 274-277 and 280-281 respectively. The freighter at right is Katrina Luckenbach, yard hull # 267, which served as Katrina Luckenbach in 1918-19. Most of the equipment on the pier is for her. Note the large submarine being built in the background, under the revolving crane.
It is probably S-1 (SS-105) or one of the AA-1 class: The AA-1 (SS-52), T-2 (SS-60) or T-3 (SS-61). 		U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 43022. Photo added 10/03/07.
T-1 78k Fore River Shipbuilding Company shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts. Destroyers fitting out on 20 June 1918. Murray (DD-97) is in the foreground, with Stribling (DD-96) outboard. In the middle distance are Bell (DD-95), with Dyer (DD-84) inboard of her. These four destroyers had builder's hull numbers 303, 302, 301 and 279, respectively, and these numbers are painted in small numerals on the ships' bows.
A submarine is on the building ways in the background, under the large crane. It is probably S-1 (SS-105) or one of the AA-1 class: The AA-1 (SS-52), T-2 (SS-60) or T-3 (SS-61). 		U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 43024. Photo added 10/03/07.
SS 105 100k S-1 (SS-105) off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 17 April 1920, while running trials.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 41988.
SS 105 31k E.B. designed & built S-1 (SS-105). The dashed lines show the aircraft canister experimentally installed after WW I. Note also the disappearing 3in/23 gun forward of the bridge & the Y-tubes on deck & under the keel.
The company's output, S-18 / 47 , dominated the class, contracts for higher numbered boats were cancelled at the end of WW I. Although Holland had long ago left E.B., these craft were all called Holland S-boats.
Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
SS 105 62k This inboard profile shows E.B.'s S-1 (SS-105) as designed; it was designed from the boat's contracts plans, dated Feb. 1917. Note the gun access hatch (arrowed) forward of the conning tower. When a big 4-in/50 gun replaced the small 3-in/23 shown, the access hatch had to be abondoned in favor of a smaller ammunition-passing scuttle.
Dashed arrows indicate the usual three ventilators grouped around the conning tower fairwater. Batteries are shaded for clarity.
Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
SS 105 68k S-1 (SS-105) underway at 14.5 knots, while running trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 15 April 1920. Note the 3"/23 retractable deck gun mounted forward of her fairwater.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 41989.
SS 105 82k S-1 (SS-105) underway during her builder's trials, circa April 1920.
Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 99772.
SS 105 95k S-1 (SS-105) covered with ice while underway in Long Island Sound, January 1922. Note the retractable 3"/23 deck gun at right. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Lieutenant O.E. Wightman. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 99776.
SS 105 79k The S-1 (SS-105) is in port during the early 1920s, prior to installation of a 4"/50 gun on her foredeck and a small seaplane hangar aft of her fairwater.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Lieutenant O.E. Wightman. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 80594.
R-9 & S-1 165k Bow view of the R-9 (SS-86) & S-1 (SS-105) at the Portsmouth New Hampshire Navy Yard, Dec. 30, 1922.
 		US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
R-23, 25 & S-1 86k Control Force submarines and their tenders at Christobal, Panama Canal Zone, circa 1923. The tenders are (from left to right): Savannah (AS-8), Bushnell (AS-2), Beaver (AS-5) and Camden (AS-6). Submarines are mostly "R" type boats, among them R-23 (SS-100) and R-25 (SS-102), both in the nest alongside Savannah's port quarter. The larger submarine alongside Savannah's bow may be S-1 (SS-105), with her large seaplane hangar. Photographed by A.E. Wells. Courtesy of Commander Christopher Noble, USN (Retired), 1967. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 42573.
SS 105 78k S-1 (SS-105), 24 October 1923. Note scouting floatplane (Bureau # A-6525) on her after deck, probably at Norfolk, Virginia.
US National Archives photo # 19-N-475A, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.
SS 105 105k The S-1 (SS-105) with her after deck awash, preparing to take a Martin MS-1 seaplane on board during tests in October 1923. Probably taken at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org. Text courtesy of USNHC.
SS 105 80k The S-1 (SS-105) with her after deck awash, preparing to take a Martin MS-1 seaplane on board during tests in October 1923. Probably taken at Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 99774.
SS 105 115k S-1 (SS-105), bow view with her MS-1 seaplane on her after deck, San Pedro Harbor, post 1923. US Navy photo courtesy of Jon Burdett.
SS 105 292k Hangar installed at the after end of the S-1's (SS-105)fairwater, circa October 1923. This hangar was used during tests with the very small Martin MS-1 scouting floatplane.
US Navy photo # 19-N-13131, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham. Text courtesy of USNHC.
SS 105 74k Martin MS-1 seaplane (Bureau # A-6525) on board S-1 (SS-105), at Hampton Roads, Virginia, 23 October 1923. Note photographers on the dock at left, and other submarines in the background. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 76124.
SS 105 87k Martin MS-1 scouting seaplane (Bureau # A-6525)) being assembled on the after deck of S-1 (SS-105), at Hampton Roads, Virginia, 24 October 1923. Note the entrance to the submarine's small hangar, at left, booms used to erect the plane's structure, and the seaplane's metal floats and three-cylinder engine. Donation of Lieutenant Gustave Freret, USN (Retired), 1970. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 71028.
SS 105 98k A Martin MS-1 seaplane flies over S-1 (SS-105), during the mid-1920s.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 99776.
SS 105 76k The S-1 (SS-105) underway, while fitted with an aircraft hangar aft of her fairwater, circa the mid-1920s.
Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Lieutenant O.E. Wightman. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 41987.
SS 105 54k The S-1 (SS-105) with a Martin MS-1 scouting seaplane (Bureau # A-6525) on her after deck, during the mid-1920s. Among the submarines docked in the background is K-7 (SS-38), at left. Original photo caption gives location as New London, Connecticut. However, the view may have been taken at Norfolk or Hampton Roads, Virginia.
Donation of Lieutenant Gustave Freret, USN (Retired), 1970. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 70979.
SS 105 98k The S-1 (SS-105) ballasted down aft, with # 3 Main Ballast tank flooded, during seaplane handling trials in the Thames River, off New London, Connecticut, 22 July 1926. A Martin MS-1 floatplane is partially visible at left.
U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 99773.
SS 105 116k Starboard side view of the S-1 (SS-105) underway, post 1926.
USN photo.
View the S-1 (SS-105)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
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