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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Contributed by Don McGrogan, BMCS, USN (ret.)

S-34 (SS-139)

Radio Call Sign: November - India - Papa - Charlie

S-18 Class Submarine: Laid down, 28 May 1918, at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., San Francisco, CA.; Launched, 13 February 1919; Commissioned, USS S-34 (SS-139), 12 July 1922; Decommissioned, 25 October 1922, at New London, CT.; Recommissioned, 23 April 1923, at New London; Decommissioned, 23 October 1945, at San Francisco, CA.; Struck from the Naval Register in November 1945; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping in 1946. S-34 was awarded one battle star for her services in World War II.

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.; Electro Dynamic Co., electric motors, Battery Cells, 120, twin propellers.

Size	Image Description	Source
113k	The *S-boat* was the culmination of E.B. single-hull design for the U.S. Navy. This is a typical unit of the S-30-41 (SS-135-46) group, as completed. Ballast tunks are indicated. Lines below the hull show the location of the fuel tanks forward & aft (the foremost two tanks of the after group are the lubricating oil tank & sump tank). Arrows indicate the two Fessenden oscillators under the boat's keel, fore & aft. Arrows in the bridge structure indicate the three periscopes (one in the conning tower, soon removed) the telescoping radio mast & the radio tube leading down into the radio room. In the control room the wheels controlling the planes were on the port side: the three levers for the Kingston valves were on the opposite side, abaft the chart table. The radio room, (below the radio tube, into which the antenna leads ran) was set into the after port side of the control room. Abaft the main motors were auxillaries: the low pressure main ballast pump on the centerline, the high pressure main ballast pump on the starboard shaft, the motor for the Fessenden oscillator on the port shaft.	Drawing by Jim Christley. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
113k	The small submarines were conceived as successors to WW I-built *R & S-boat. Four first-generation Holland S-boats* are shown, three of them identifiable, two with their radio masts raised: S-34 (SS-139), S-32 (SS-137) & S-33(SS-138) .	US Navy photo. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
92k	Tied up along the dock from left to right: S-21 (SS-126), S-34 (SS-139) and S-31 (SS-136) at Groton CT., June 9, 1923.	US Navy photo # 19-N-10269, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
54k	The S-34 (SS-139) in 1923, probably after she was recommissioned on 23 April; and, after further trials and various exercises off the east coast and in the Caribbean.	Photo courtesy of USNI. Text courtesy of DANFS.
54k	From outboard to inboard, S-31 (SS-136), S-35 (SS-140), S-33 (SS-138), and S-34 (SS-139), probably in the Phillipines.	Vance Adams for his father, Lt. Vance Adams USN Ret (deceased).
200k	S-34 (SS-139) underway, date and location unknown.	US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
122k	Beaver (AS-5) at Olongapo, Philippines, with six submarines alongside, in March 1929. The submarines are (from front to rear): S-32 (SS-137), S-35 (SS-140), S-30 (SS-135), S-33 (SS-138), S-31 (SS-136), & S-34 (SS-139).	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 59967.
128k	Submarines at Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines. Crewmen posing with a 4"/50 deck gun on board a "S-Type" submarine, March 1929, with another 4"/50 in the foreground. These submarines are probably S-30 (SS-135) and S-31 (SS-136). Behind them are (from front to rear): S-35 (SS-140), S-33 (SS-138); S-32 (SS-137); and S-34 (SS-139). Photographed from Beaver (AS-5). In the background is Pittsburgh (CA-4), in the Dewey drydock.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 51830.
110k	S-34 (SS-139) entering Pearl Harbor, circa mid-1930's.	US Navy photo # 19-N-17941, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
171k	Bow view of the S-34 (SS-139) tied up to wharf, taken in the mid to late 30's, probably in Pearl Harbor. The sub is getting a new battery. The new cells are loaded on the railcars to the right. The photo was dated by looking at the sub moored behind it. It is a fleet boat, and probably a *Pike/Permit* class. It is painted black, so that puts it in the later 1930's. Also, the *S-34's* skeg has been cut away as part of a safety and maintenance mod, and that was done in April, 1932. The *S-34* was stationed almost exclusively in the P.I. and Pearl until 1941. The mountainous background looks a lot like Pearl (although it may be Subic or Cavite).	US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org. Photo i.d. courtesy of David Johnston (USNR), Darryl Baker & John Hummel. Text i.d. courtesy of David Johnston (USNR) & Darryl Baker. Photo added 03/17/07.
95k	S-22 (SS-127) is shown after a refit in Philadelphia, June 1941. She had already been modified for greater safety (completed in Portsmouth in Nov. 1929) with special escape hatches fore & aft, & with two marker buoys (the forward buoy, nearly abeam the forward escape hatch, is shown in dashed lines. The scrap view shows the after end of S-34 (SS-139) as it was in April 1932, after her safety refit. Boats differed slightly in the way their skegs were cut down aft. On deck forward, note that a JK passive sonar was installed on top of the older SC; many boats had this modification either during the late 1930's or as refitted for war service. Many, but not all "Holland" *S-boats* were refitted for increased safety from 1929 on. Other boats were refitted in 1940-41, many at Philadelphia.	Drawing by Jim Christley. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
20k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of the decommissioning of Submarine Divison 9 on 7 December 1937. The subs appearing are: S-30 (SS-135) S-31 (SS-136) S-32 (SS-137) S-33 (SS-138) S-34 (SS-139) & S-35 (SS-140) .	Courtesy of Jack Tretule.
73k	An 1942 oil painting on board, by the artist William F. Draper entitled "Sub and Yippy Tie Up." In a quiet inlet of the Bering Sea in 1942, a YP boat gets a coat of paint and an *S-boat* ties up for fuel and provisions. The short Alaskan day is ending and lights may be seen in the barracks until total darkness requires a blackout. The *S-boats* that served in the Aleutians theatre were: S-18 (SS-123), S-23 (SS-128), S-27 (SS-132), S-28 (SS-133), S-30 (SS-135), S-31 (SS-136), S-32 (SS-137), S-33 (SS-138), S-34 (SS-139), S-35 (SS-140), S-36 (SS-141), S-40 (SS-145), S-41 (SS-146), S-42 (SS-153), S-44 (SS-155), S-45 (SS-156), S-46 (SS-157), & S-47 (SS-158).	Sub and Yippy Tie Up by William F. Draper. Painting #13 / 88-189-N. Courtesy of the USNHC.
154k	*S-boat* and friend. The fleet boat is probably a *Balao class, but this is a guess. Too little detail is visible. The S-boat* is an EB product, either a *30 series* boat, or *S-40* or 41. The *20 series* boats had a different shaped housing for the bow plane pivot and the *S-42* through 47 had a prominent gun access trunk on the forward edge of the conning tower fairwater. The government built *S-boats* had an entirely different superstructure configuration. A curious thing is the lack of a deck gun on the *S-boat* . There is also no Union Jack on the jackstaff. This leads me to believe that this photo was taken stateside in the immediate post-war period, probably late 1945 and the *S-boat* was decommissioned and awaiting scrapping.	Text courtesy of David Johnston. Photo courtesy of Theodore Roscoe, from his book "U.S. Submarine Operations of WW II", published by USNI.