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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Lake/Defender

Introduction courtesy of David Johnston (USN, retired)

In late 1906, Simon Lake authorized Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia to build a boat called Simon Lake XV in response to the 1906 naval appropriations bill, which authorized the Secretary of the Navy to acquire up to $500,000 in submarines, a huge amount in that era. It was a lucrative enough of a deal to goad Lake into once again trying the U.S. market, having spent the last several years building subs for European navies. Taking a large gamble, he contacted NNS in late 1906 and had them build the Simon Lake XV on his own dime, intending to demonstrate it to the Department for approval as soon as it was completed, hoping to sell it and many more copies.

Then on 2 March 1907 the Roosevelt administration increased the amount of funding for submarines to a staggering $3,000,000 his ride on Plunger (SS-2) and this prompted Secretary Metcalf to initiate a competition to determine the best type of boat to build. This is exactly what Lake had been arguing for since 1897. Lake was convinced that his new boat was going to win and he submitted it to the trials board after rushing back from Europe. In April and May 1907 Lake was enthusiastic about his chances at the huge pile of money, and his boat, now renamed simply Lake, went head to head with EB's Octopus (later C-1).

There was only one problem. Lake lost the competition.

The Lake was judged inferior to the Octopus (SS-9) in very nearly every category. The Octopus was faster both surfaced and submerged, was more stable submerged, and dove faster. Lake did make a record dive to 136 feet, but the crew had considerable difficulty controlling her while submerged. The level diving system with midships diving planes simply did not work the way Lake wanted them to. The crew frequently lost control; the boat accidentally broached the surface 18 times. The workload of the crew was not efficiently distributed with the captain handling the helm, the diving planes, and the ballast, all the while trying to safely conn the boat. He simply couldn’t multitask at that level. The Navy chose the Octopus for series production with four more boats built that later became the C-class.

Unlike the past, Simon Lake let the defeat go unchallenged as the data was unequivocable. However, he took an entirely different opinion of the exclusive award of an additional submarine construction contract solely to EB. Engaging the help of two congressmen, Lake and his father brought charges of malfeasance and corruption against both Electric Boat and Victor Metcalf. A congressional committee appointed to investigate the unsubstantiated charges eventually found absolutely no evidence of any wrongdoing by either EB or Metcalf. In fact, Lake, his father, and their two congressional friends narrowly avoided charges being leveled against them; such was the dubious and somewhat nefarious nature of their actions.

Despite his legal tactics having backfired badly, Simon Lake refused to give up on the boat. Lake was brought to Lake’s Bridgeport, CT. yard in 1907 and rebuilt in an attempt to correct its deficiencies. It received a sharply raked and pointed bow along with other alterations. He renamed it Defender. What was done with the boat at this point is not entirely clear, but it remained under Lake ownership and was never commissioned into the Navy. The Navy wanted nothing to do with the boat.

In late 1928 the boat was returned to the Bridgeport yard where it was refitted as a salvage vessel. It was an attempt to revive Lake’s pet concept of diver operations from a submerged submarine, for mine clearance and salvage work. The Navy was anemic at best to the concept, so Defender was offered to Sir Hubert Wilkins for his Arctic expedition. Wilkins chose a larger O-12 (SS-73) instead. In June of 1929 Defender participated in a salvage demonstration for the Navy off Block Island. The Navy was once again not impressed and nothing came of it. Desperately trying to drum up publicity Lake engaged Amelia Earhart and the famous aviatrix made a dive in the boat and even locked out through the diving chamber and swam to the surface. Lake later had plans to use Defender in a scheme to salvage gold from a sunken British frigate, but in true Lake fashion that scheme fell through too. She lingered at a dock in New London, sinking alongside several times, until finally abandoned on a mud flat near Old Saybrook. Defender was finally pulled from the mudflat by the Army Corps of Engineers in 1946 and scuttled out in Long Island Sound. She lay forgotten there until 2023 when her wreck was rediscovered and surveyed.

As built to the specifications:
Overall Length: 92'
Beam: 13'
200 Ton Displacement.
With 10 man crew accommodations

Click On Image For Full Size	Size	Image Description	Source
	NR	LATEST LAKE SUBMARINE CRUISER WILL BE A MARVEL OF MECHANICAL INGENUITY AND DESTRUCTIVENESS Invention Turned Down by United States Gains Remarkable Victory Over Competitors in Fair Contest in Foreign Waters	Photo # 3b36330r, LC-USZ62-89963, courtesy of memory.loc.gov. Image and text provided by Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA. Photo from Daily Press. (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 08 April 1906, Image 4, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
	1.92k	The crew of the *Defender* topside circa early 1900's.	Photo # 3b36332r, LC-USZ62-89965 by Lake Torpedo Boat Company. George Grantham Bain Collection (Library of Congress), courtesy of loc.gov Photo i.d. courtesy of Ric Hedman & David Johnston
	NR	AIRSHIPS TO FIGHT SUBMARINES AERO CLUB OFFICIALS ON BOARD THE LAKE SUBMARINE BOAT	Image and text provided by University of Hawaii at Manoa; Honolulu, HI. Photo from The Hawaiian Star. (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 10 May 1907, SECOND EDITION, Image 1, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
	110k	Submarine *Defender* as rebuilt with sharply raked bow, and her topsides changed, ready for launch at Lake's Bridgeport base. Above her twin propellers is the shutter of a stern torpedo tube. Lake's characteristic pair of amidships planes have been folded up (they are forward and abaft the big conning tower).	Photo Submarine Force Museum and Library & submitted by Robert Hurst. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
	109k	Submarine *Defender*, circa 1907 at Newport News, VA. She was launched on 27 February 1907.	Text info courtesy of Darryl L. Baker. Photo courtesy of James Price, former STS, 81-84 617B.
	390k	The experimental submarine *Defender* built in 1907 by Simon Lake, and refitted as a salvage craft, on the ways before launching at Bridgeport, Connecticut, 1 January 1929. It was taken to New London, Connecticut, to undergo tests of safety and rescue devices with the salvaged submarine (S-4) (SS-109). The new escape hatch, slightly open, can be seen in the bow, directly beneath the eye bolt.	Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 69034 via Mike Green.
0845207	NR	LIFE-SAVING DEVICE Jack Gardner, diver, is shown leaving air chamber of Simon Lake's submarine salvage ship, the *Defender*. Inventor claims device will avert future tragedies by speeding up rescue work.	Image and text provided by Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT. Photo from New Britain Herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 24 September 1928, Image 14, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
0845208	NR	Capt. Sloan Danenhower waving from the hatch of Simon Lake’s old submarine *Defender*, which is being used by the Navy in safety tests. The discovery yesterday of a partially severed hawser from the submarine to a surface ship probably saved his life.	Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Photo from Evening Star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 16 January 1929, Image 13, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
0845210	NR	SUB-SINKING PLOT PROVED A DUD ACCIDENT DELAYS LAKE’S TEST	Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Photo from The Washington Times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 16 January 1929, Image 3, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
0807330	NR	WILKINS SPEEDS PLANS FOR UNDERSEA EXPLORATION TRIP AT "TOP OF THE WORLD" THE SUBMARINE, *DEFENDER. MAP SHOWING WILKINS’ FLIGHT AND PROPOSESED UNDERSEA DASH DIVER DESCENDS FROM DEFENDER*	Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC. Photo from The Washington Times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 21 March 1930, Image 3, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
0845209	NR	WILL AUCTION SUBMARINE Only Privately Owned Submersible Is up for Sale Next Tuesday. Ownership of the world’s only private submarine, the *Defender*, built for the Russian Baltic fleet nearly 30 years ago, will pass to the highest bidder at an auction sale next Tuesday. The sale was ordered last night by U. S. Marshal Jacob O. Walter to satisfy a claim for storage and repairs held by the Thames Shipyard.....	Image and text provided by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library, Chapel Hill, NC. Photo from The Times-News. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1927-current, 13 July 1933, Image 3, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable to this Vessel
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Lake Submarine: The Defender, built in 1907
WORLD SUBMARINE HISTORY TIMELINE 1580-2000

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