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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Mike Smolinski

S-26 (SS-131)

S-1 Class Submarine (Holland-type): Laid down, 7 November 1919, at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, MA.; Launched, 22 August 1922; Commissioned, USS S-26 (SS-131), 15 October 1923; Sunk by collision with PC-460, January 24, 1942 in the Gulf of Panama about 14 miles west of San Jose Light in three hundred feet of water.
I have been informed that the Panamanian Periodical, La Estrella de Panama, has writen that divers descended 25 times and that they could not open the hatchway of the bridge and that the further work was canceld in February 1942. (Courtesy of Aldrin Carranza)
Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown); Final Disposition, hull not salvaged.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 854 t., Submerged: 1,062 t.; Length 219' 3" ; Beam 20' 8"; Draft 15' 11"(mean); Depth Limit 200'; 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 diesel engines, HP 1200, Fuel Capacity, 41,192 gals.; Ridgeway Dynamo & Electric Co., electric motors, Battery Cells, 120, twin propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
54k	S-26 (SS-131) slides down the launching ways at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy, MA., 22 August 1922.	US Navy photo courtesy of MMCM (SS) Greg Peterman USN Retired.
105k	Tied up along the dock from left to right: S-21 (SS-126), S-23 (SS-128) and S-26 (SS-131) at Groton CT., 4 May 1923.	US Navy photo # 19-N-10270, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
103k	S-26 (SS-131) & S-35 (SS-140), on a cruise to the West Indies, circa Jan-Feb, 1924. They are shown at Target Bay on the island of Culebra.	Photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
43k	S-26 (SS-131), entering Pearl Harbor, circa 1924-38.	Text from DANFS. Photo courtesy of Hyperwar US Navy in WWII.
163k	Port quarter view looking to aft end of the S-26 (SS-131) & S-25 (SS-130) , in Mare Island dry dock about 1926-28.	Photo courtesy of Phil Lucy.
108k	S-25 (SS-130) , and S-26 (SS-131) in dry-dock, circa 1926-28, at Mare Island.	Photo courtesy of Phil Lucy.
345k	S-26 (SS-131) probably at San Diego harbor, circa 1927-30. The vessel in the background appears to be the Tern(AM-31).	US Navy photo courtesy of Angie Mattke. Partial text courtesy of DANFS. Photo added 12/24/08.
91k	S-26 (SS-131) entering San Diego harbor, circa 1930's.	Photo courtesy of Ric Hedmen.
110k	E.B.'s S-26 (SS-131), shown in the early 1930's, was one of the company's first series *S-18-41. She had been modified for greatef safety, with an escape hatch installed in her motor room aft and her skeg cut away to clear it. Some S-boats* were not so modified until they were reconditioned in 1941. The underwater blister visible forward contained a passive array (MV-tube), that replced the earlier Y-tube. The SC tube, with its guard, is visible on deck. About 1935, JK, in a round housing, began to be installed atop the SC. This arrangement was standard by 1941. The conning tower periscope was removed in the mid 1920's. The heavy cables suspended from the deck and from the A-shears atop the conning tower fairwater comprise the loop radio antenna. At the outbreak of the war in 1941, *S-26* was assigned to Coco Solo in the Canal Zone, she was rammed accidentally on 24 January 1942.	Drawing by Jim Christley. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
450k	Submarines S-47 (SS-158), S-32 (SS-137) , S-26 (SS-131) & Argonaut (SS-166) in Honolulu Harbor in 1936. Notice Aloha Tower in the background. Notice that all the *S-boats* have the post S-4 (SS-109) accident messenger buoy modifications to their stern, and how deeply in the water the stern light sits, making visibility of this light problematic in anything but glass calm seas.	Partial text & i.d. courtesy of David Johnston (USNR).Photo by Edward Cwalinski, submitted by Barry Litchfield.
18k	Commemorative post mark from S-26's (SS-131) partial decommissioning while being placed in Commission in Reserve, 13 March 1939.	Curtesy of Jack Treutle.
135k	S-26 (SS-131) was proceeding from Balboa, Canal Zone, to its patrol station in company with S-21 (SS-126), S-29 (SS-134) and S-44 (SS-155) and an escort vessel, *PC-460, at the time of the disaster. At 2210 the escort vessel sent a visual message to the submarines that she was leaving the formation and that they could proceed on the duty assigned.S-21 was the only boat to receive the message. Shortly thereafter PC-460* struck *S-26* on the starboard side of the Torpedo Room and the submarine sank within a few seconds. Salvage operations started immediately under Captain T.J. Doyle, USN, Commanding SubRon3 and Submarine Base, Coco Solo, Canal Zone; they were not successful.	Photo courtesy of Bob Daly/PC-1181. Text courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org.
28k	Map showing the general area where the S-26 (SS-131) was lost, in the Gulf of Panama about 14 miles west of San Jose Light. I have been informed that the Panamanian Periodical, La Estrella de Panama, has writen that divers descended 25 times and that they could not open the hatchway of the bridge and that the further work was canceld in February 1942.	Photo courtesy of sailwx.info. Text i.d. courtesy of Aldrin Carranza.
83k	Google Earth satellite photo of the location where the S-26 (SS-131) was lost, in the Gulf of Panama about 14 miles west of San Jose Light.	View courtesy of Google Earth.
163k	Commemorative photo in honor of the memory of the S-26 (SS-131).	Photo courtesy of Tom Kermen. Dante's Prayer courtesy of Loreena McKennitt via quinlanroad.com.
117k	The wife of a World War II U.S. submarine veteran, tosses a flower into a reflecting pool to honor the memory of one of the 52 submarines lost during World War II at the National Submarine Memorial-West on board Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach, Calif. On this Veterans Day, the Submarine Veterans of World War II transferred ownership of the memorial to the U.S. Navy.	U.S. Navy photo # N-1159B-021 by Journalist 2nd Class Brian Brannon, courtesy of news.navy.mil.
152k	S-26 (SS-131), date and place unknown. In Memorium: In the Second Book of Shmuel (Samuel), 22nd chapter, 5th through the 20th verses, translated from the original in Hebrew and published by the Koren Publishers of Jerusalem, Israel 1982, can perhaps aptly describe the fate of the crew and all other U.S. submariners who died defending their county: "When the waves of death compassed me / the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; / the bonds of She'ol encircled me; / the snares of death took me by surprise; / in my distress I called upon the Lord, / and cried to my G-D: / and he heard my voice out of his temple, / and my cry entered into his ears. / Then the earth shook and trembled; /the foundations of heaven moved / and shook because of his anger /...the heavy mass of waters, and thick clouds of the skies /... And the channels of the sea appeared, / the foundations of the world were laid bare, / at the rebuking of the Lord, at the blast at the breath of his nostrils. / He sent from above, he took me; / he drew me out of many waters; / he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from those who hated me; for they were too strong for me. / They surprised me in the day of my calamity: / but the Lord was my stay..."	US Navy photo courtesy of Joe Radigan, MACM, USN Ret.