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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

S-49 (SS-160)

S-48 Class Submarine: Laid down, 22 October 1920, at Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, CT.; Launched, 23 April 1921; Commissioned, USS S-49 (SS-160), 5 June 1922, at Bridgeport, CT.; Decommissioned, 2 August 1927, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA.; Laid up in the Atlantic Reserve Fleet, League Island, PA; Struck from the Naval Register, 31 March 1931; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 25 May 1931, to Boston Iron and Metal Co., Baltimore, MD.

Following repairs, S-49 (SS-160) resumed operations off the New England coast; and, during January of 1927, moved south with S-50 (SS-161), for exercises and tests off Key West, the Dry Tortugas, and in Tampa Bay, Florida. On 12 March, S-49 returned to the United States Naval Submarine Base at New London/Groton, Connecticut...whence she completed a run to the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine; and back to New London/Groton...then transited to the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with S-50, for inactivation. Arriving on 31 March, S-49 was decommissioned on 2 August 1927 and berthed with other reserve ships in the Back Channel of the Philadelphia Navy Yard...until struck from the Navy List on 21 March 1931...in accordance with the London Treaty. S-49 was sold to the Boston Iron and Metal Company at Baltimore, Maryland, on 25 May 1931. Reduced to a hulk (read "demilitarized") by that company in 1936, but not scrapped, the S-boat was sold to an organization that operated the submarine as an "attraction." The submarine visited many ports in the United States and was "inspected" by interested people who toured through that submersible when she was open to visitors.

During the Second World War, the former S-49 was reacquired by the United States Navy "as equipment" for use in experimental work at the United States Naval Mine Warfare Test Station at Solomons, Maryland...now known as the United States Naval Air Station, Patuxent River...Solomons Facility. Shortly after being towed to Solomons from Baltimore (where the Navy had reacquired the submarine), the former S-49 foundered off Point Patience in the Patuxent River on 16 December 1942 and sank in 102 feet of water at: Position: Latitude 38 Degrees 19' 53.2" North Longitude 76 Degrees 29' 17.2" West or, on a bearing of 318.5 Degrees True, distant 525 yards, from the southern tip of Point Patience. The S-boat has remained on the bottom at that position to the present day...and is visited, on occasion, by Navy and recreational divers.
Courtesy of R. S. Rayfield, Jr. Major, USMC (Ret)

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 903 t., Submerged: 1,230 t.; Length 240'; Beam 21' 10"; Draft 13' 6"; Depth Limit 200"; Speed, surfaced 14.5 kts, submerged 11 kts; Complement 4 Officers 34 Enlisted; Armament, five 21" torpedo tubes, 16 torpedoes, one 4"/50 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel electric engines, Busch Sulzer Brothers Diesel Engine Co., diesel engines, HP 1800; Fuel Capacity 44,350 gal.; Ridgeway Dynamo & Electric Co., electric motors, HP 1500, Battery cells 120, twin propellers.
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S-49 588k NEW SUBMARINE S-49 (SS-160) LAUNCHED LAST WEEK AT BRIDGEPORT, CONN. Image and text provided by The New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundation.
Photo from The Evening World.(New York, N.Y.) 1887-1931, 26 April 1921, Wall Street Final Edition, Image 21, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
PDF added 08/16/11.
S-49 163k S-49 (SS-160) was a Lake-built government-type S-boat, modified while under construction to incorporate a single after torpedo tube. Note also the gun access trunk forward of the conning tower fairwater, which replaced the ready ammunition stowage of the first series of "government" S-boats. She was lengthened to 240 feet to provide both a maneuvering room & a torpedo room aft. Displacement increased from 876 tons (surfaced) / 1092 (submerged) to 903/1230.
Note the blister of the passive MV system forward, just under the circular patch of her Fessenden oscillator. Also note the separate maneuvering room inserted between the engine room & the after torpedo room, above the motors.
The entire battery is forward, under the space between the forward torpedo room and the control room. Note the kinked (discontinuous) pressure hull, with large diameter sections at the ends, which require heavier & more elaborate structure to support it.
Drawing by Jim Christley. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
S-49 49k Reginald Fessenden and his electric oscillator.
Photo courtesy of photolib.noaa.gov., courtesy of oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.
R-24 134k PDF entitled "How the Diesel engine came to America." Photo courtesy of subvetpaul.com.
S-49 115k S-49 (SS-160) underway, circa Winter 1925, note ice covering the clearing lines.
 US Navy photo from DANFS contributed by Joe Radigan, MACM, USN Ret.
S-49 100k S-49 (SS-160) starboard view underway, Jan. 1926 possibly off New London CT, or Portsmouth, NH.
 US Navy photo # 80-G-1025021, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
S-49 153k Starboard view of the S-49 (SS-160) in 1927.
 US Navy photo courtesy of Ric Hedmen / rddesign@rddesigns.com
S-49 39k S-49 (SS-160) as a attraction at the Great Lakes Exposition 1936. The "C" on the bow is to identify the submarine as a "Civilian" vessel. She was reputed to have been painted yellow as well.
US Navy photo & text courtesy of Ric Hedmen / rddesign@rddesigns.com
S-49 269k The S-49 (SS-160) at the Great Lakes Exposition in 1936 & 1937.
Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp & worldsfaircommunity.org.
S-49 188k The Central Operating Compartment of the S-49 (SS-160).
 Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
S-49 174k The Engine Room of the S-49 (SS-160).
Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
S-49 182k The Torpedo Room of the S-49 (SS-160).
Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
S-49 38k The S-49 (SS-160) was decomm'd on 2 Aug. 1927, so this hat, which is in pretty good shape, is at least 83 years old. You can see the gold bullion the lettering is in has corroded. Photo & text courtesy of Ric Hedmen / rddesign@rddesigns.com.
S-49 116k S-49 (SS-160) on the Delaware River, 1939. Photo courtesy of David A. Boone.
S-49 6k 15 Dec. 2006 side-scan of the S-49 (SS-160) looking downwards; one can see the very distinct shadow effect - and the conning tower of the sub.
Photo courtesy of Jeff Morris and Steve Bilicki from Azulmar Research, LLC. Text courtesy of Dr. Douglas Camp.
View the S-49 (SS-160)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
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U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
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