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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Patch contributed by Mike Smolinski

Sealion (SS-195)

Radio Call Sign: November - Echo - Lima - Quebec

Sargo Class Submarine: Laid down, 20 June 1938, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.; Launched, 25 May 1939; Commissioned, USS Sealion (SS-195), 27 November 1939; Damaged by Japanese aerial bombardment, 10 December 1941, with the lose of 4 lives, at Cavite Navy Yard, PI; Final Disposition, all salvageable material removed and destroyed by explosives, 25 December 1941; Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown).

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,400 t., Submerged: 2,350 t.; Length 310' 6" ; Beam 27' 1"; Draft 13' 8"; Speed, Surfaced 20 kts, Submerged 7.75 kts; Complement 5 Officers, 50 Enlisted; Maximum Depth Limit, 250'; Armament, eight 21" torpedo tubes, 24 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun, two .50 cal machine guns, two .30 cal machine guns; Propulsion, diesel-electric engines, GE diesel engines, HP 5500, Fuel Capacity, 190,000 gals., GE motors, HP 2740, 252 battery cells. twin screws.

Size	Image Description	Source
48k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of Sealion's (SS-195) keel being laid, 20 June 1938, at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
21k	Roster of Sealion's (SS-195) officer plankowners and sponsor / supervisior.	Courtesy of Jon Bailey. Photo added 03/09/06.
33k	Roster of Sealion's (SS-195) crew plankowners.	Courtesy of Jon Bailey. Photo added 03/09/06.
40k	Sealion (SS-195), starts her slide into the water, 25 May 1939 at the Electric Boat Co., Groton, CT.	US Navy photo, courtesy of MMCM (SS) Greg Peterman USN Retired, from his Goat Locker webpage.
21k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of Sealion's (SS-195) launching, 25 May 1939.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
79k	Sealion (SS-195), shows off the new stern form introduced to accommodate four rather than two after tubes. She is shown, newly completed off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 6 October 1939.	Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press. US Navy photo courtesy of Hyperwar US Navy in WWII.
141k	Starboard view of the Sealion (SS-195), newly completed off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 6 October 1939.	US Navy photo, courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org webpage.
62k	Sealion (SS-195) off Provincetown, Massachusetts, during trials, 6 October 1939.	Photograph # NH 19-N-20993, from the Bureau of Ships Collection in the U.S. National Archives, courtesy of the U.S. Naval Historical Center.
38k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of Sealion's (SS-195) first day in commission, 27 November 1939. Note: YN1 Loyal Day was a plankowner of *Sealion* and aboard when she was bombed on Dec 10, 1941.	Courtesy of Ric Hedman.
31k	Commemorative post mark & photo of Sealion (SS-195) off the New England coast during her sea trials following her commissioning, 16 January 1940.	Courtesy of Jack Treutle.
46k	Commemorative post mark on the occasion of Navy Day, 27 October 1940, commemorating the participation of: Sailfish (SS-192), Seadragon (SS-194), Sealion (SS-195), Searaven (SS-196), Seawolf (SS-197), Tambor (SS-198), Tautog (SS-199), Thresher (SS-200), & Triton (SS-201). Note: YN1 Loyal Day was a plankowner of *Sealion* and aboard when she was bombed on Dec 10, 1941.	Courtesy of Ric Hedman.
214k	Direct hit! Two bombs strike Sealion (SS-195) almost simultaneously. First U.S. submarine casualty of the war, she went down in the shambles of Cavite - was later raised from the shallows off Machina wharf and sunk in Manila Bay to prevent capture. Seadragon (SS-194) (shown at right) narrowly escaped the blast.	Drawing by Lt. Cmdr. Fred Freemen, Courtesy of Theodore Roscoe, from his book "U.S. Submarine Operations of WW II", published by USNI.
76k	Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Islands. Fires at Cavite resulting from the 10 December 1941 Japanese air raid. Barge # 181 (YF-181 ?) -- perhaps visible in the right center -- is loaded with burning torpedos. At the time this photograph was taken, small arms ammunition was exploding in the center of the heavy blaze on the left. The submarine whose bow is visible at the far right is probably Sealion (SS-195), which had been hit by bombs and had settled by the stern.	Photograph # SC 130991, from the Army Signal Corps Collection in the U.S. National Archives, courtesy of the USNHC.
132k	Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Islands. Damage to yard facilities from Japanese air attacks. Photographed on 17 December 1941, looking across the Receiving Ship toward the power plant. The remains of the Post Office are in the left foreground, and the bomb-damaged submarine Sealion (SS-195), lies across the center of the image.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # 80-G-243717, now in the collections of the National Archives, courtesy of the USNHC.
100k	Wreckage of the Sealion (SS-195), photographed at the Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Islands, after its capture by the Japanese. *Sealion* had been fatally damaged by Japanese bombs on 10 December 1941 and was scuttled on 25 December, before U.S. forces abandoned Cavite. Copied from a wartime Japanese publication.	Official U.S. Navy Photograph # USN 1050058, courtesy of the USNHC.
79k	Sealion's (SS-195) wrecked hulk at the old Cavite Navy Yard, Philippines, in November 1945. Her conning tower, with periscopes, is at left, with her stern at right. *Sealion* had been scuttled at Cavite on 25 December 1941, after suffering fatal damage during a Japanese air attack there on 10 December.	Photographed by B. Eneberg, who was then navigator of a Royal Australian Air Force PBY-5 aircraft. Courtesy of B. Eneberg, 1977. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 85725.
116k	Sealion (SS-195) salvage at Cavite Navy Yard, Phillipines, 1959.	Photo courtesy of Rich Crank, ENCS USN Ret.
91k	In memory of the Sealion (SS-195).	Photo courtesy of Tom Kermen.
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. The following text is from The Coming Fury by Bruce Catton., pg. 478. "Major Sullivan Bullen of Illinois was killed in the battle, and just before it he had written to his wife, Sarah, to tell her that he believed he was going to be killed and to express a tremulous faith that could see a gleam of light in the dark: "But O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and float unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you in the gladdest days and in the gloomiest nights, always, always, and if there be a soft breeze upon your chest it shall be my breath, as the cool air fans your throbbing temple it shall be my spirit passing by. Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait, for we shall meet again!"	U.S. Navy photo N-1159B-021 by Journalist 2nd Class Brian Brannon, courtesy of news.navy.mil.
151k	Sealion (SS-195), salvage at Cavite Navy Yard, Phillipines, 1959. 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..."	Rich Crank ENCS USN Ret.