NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive
Contributed by Mike Smolinski
V-4 (SF-7)
Argonaut (SM-1 / APS-1 / SS-166)
Construction - Shakedown
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82k | Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine. Waterfront and covered shipways, circa summer-fall 1927.V-4 (SF-7) and V-5 (SC-1) are under construction in inside shipways building.V-4 (later renamed Argonaut) is on the nearer way and appears to be nearly ready for her launching, which took place on 10 November 1927. V-5 (later renamed Narwhal) is in a much earlier stage of construction, having been laid down on 10 May 1927. S-13 (SS-118) and another "S"-type submarine are alongside the waterfront, at left. Note automobiles parked in the center and right. | U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 70910. Courtesy of Lieutenant Gustave Freret, USN (Retired), 1970.
 267k |
Four photo PDF Launching Program for the V-4 (SF-7) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine on 10 November 1927. |
Photos by Leslie R. Jones, Boston Herald-Traveler, courtesy of Ron Reeves.
|  113k | V-4 (SF-7) was built specifically as a mine-layer. Her special mine stowage tube, compensating tank, and mine-laying tube are visible aft in the inboard view. As a long-range cruiser, she had special habitability features: just abaft the torpedo room forward was a large crew's mess, with refrigerated stowage below it. | Abaft those spaces were officer's quarters above a 6-in magazine. Below the control room (directly below the conning tower) were pumps and forward (battery charging) engine rooms. Abaft them were CPO quarters and the maneuvering room above the after battery and the after 6-in magazine. Mines were stowed above and abaft the motors. The space above the torpedo room was a windlass room. This was the first U.S. submarine design to have a horizontal cylindrical conning tower. This type later became standard. Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. |
 80k | V-4 (SF-7) ready for launching, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 10 November 1927. At the time of her launching she was the fleet's largest submarine, as noted in the caption. | U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 70911. Courtesy of Lieutenant Gustave Freret, USN (Retired), 1970. |
 117k | V-4 (SF-7) just before launching, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, on 10 November 1927. This view, taken from off the submarine's starboard quarter, shows the twin mine-launching tubes fitted to her stern, just below the waterline. | U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 69136. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969. |
 198k | V-4 (SF-7) enters the water stern first at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire, 10 November 1927. | US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/14/10. |
 198k | Surrounded by tugs to push her dockside, the V-4 (SF-7) will begin her fitting out process over the next five months before her commissioning. | US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/14/10. |
 173k | The flood gates open for V-4 (SF-7) in dry dock during undocking, 29 March 1928 at Portsmouth Navy Yard. Note how she dwarfs the smaller O-2 (SS-63). | Photo from Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1947-1995, and submitted courtesy of Robert Hurst. |  213k | V-4 (SF-7) view during undocking, 29 March 1928 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, New Hampshire. | US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/14/10. |
 58k | V-4 (SF-7) "Ready for commissioning at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, April 1928" (quoted from the original picture caption). Though this view might show the ship when ready for commissioning (which took place on 2 April 1928), it is more probable that it shows V-4 immediately after she was launched, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, on 10 November 1927. | U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 69136. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969. |
 256k | Most like being serenaded by the tunes of "Anchors Away", Lt. Comdr. W. M. Quigley and his crew of the V-4 (SF-7) salute the national ensign on the stern during the boat's commissioning. | US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/14/10. |
 84k | V-4 (SF-7) crewman training the submarine's forward 6"/53" deck gun, during shakedown tests off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 21 June 1928. | U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 69206. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969. |
 320k | V-4 (SF-7) crewman training the submarine's forward 6"/53" deck gun, during shakedown tests off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 21 June 1928. | US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/14/10. |
 159k | Seen from above the forward 6"/53" deck gun of V-4 (SF-7) during shakedown tests off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 21 June 1928. | US Navy photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com. Photo added 05/14/10. |
 56k | V-4 (SF-7) emerging from a crash dive, while making her shakedown tests off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 21 June 1928. | U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 69163. Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969. |
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View the V-4 / Argonaut (SF-7, SM-1, APS-1, SS-166)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Ep-21 (1) - Victory At Sea ~ Full Fathom Five - HQ
On Eternal Patrol
ComSubPac Report of loss of USS Argonaut (SS 166) January 10, 1943 - 105 Men Lost
Through the Looking Glass, A Historic Look at Submarines.
Carlson's Raiders
HISTORIC SUBMARINE DOCUMENTARY AND TRAINING FILMS
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