United States O-class submarine

USS O-1 (SS-62) lead ship of her class in dry dock at Portsmouth Nary Yard in September 1918
Class overview
Operators:	United States Navy
Preceded by:	N-class submarine
Succeeded by:	R-class submarine
Built:	1916-1918
In commission:	1918-1931, 1941-1946
Completed:	16
Lost:	2
Retired:	14
General characteristics
Type:	Submarine
Displacement:	Group 1: 520.6 long tons (529 t) surfaced 625 long tons (635 t) submerged Group 2: 491 long tons (499 t) surfaced 565 long tons (574 t) submerged
Length:	Group 1: 173 ft 4 in (52.83 m) Group 2: 175 ft (53 m)
Beam:	Group 1: 18 ft (5.5 m) Group 2: 16 ft 7 in (5.05 m)
Propulsion:	Group 1: 2 × 440 hp (328 kW) NELSECO diesel engines 2 × 370 hp (276 kW) New York Navy Yard (O1-O5) or Electro Dynamic Co. electric motors 2 x 60-cell batteries 2 x shafts Group 2: 2 × 500 hp (373 kW) Busch-Sulzer diesel engines 2 × 400 hp (298 kW) Diehl Manufacture Co. electric motors 2 x 60-cell batteries 2 x shafts
Speed:	Group 1: 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) surfaced 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) submerged Group 2: 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) surfaced 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) submerged
Range:	5,500 nmi (10,200 km) at 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph) surfaced 250 nmi (460 km) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) submerged
Test depth:	200 ft (61 m)
Complement:	29
Armament:	4 × 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes, 8 torpedoes 1 × 3 inch (76 mm)/23 caliber gun (retractable deck gun)

The United States Navy's sixteen O class submarines were created out of the lessons learned from the United States L class submarine. The O class were about 80 tons larger than the L class, with greater power and endurance for ocean patrols. Due to the American entry into World War I the O class were built much more rapidly than previous classes, and were all commissioned in 1918. O-1 through O-10 were group 1, designed by Electric Boat, O-11 through O-16 were group 2, designed by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company and sometimes considered a separate class. The group 2 boats entered service just before the end of World War I. Eight of the group 1 boats survived to serve in World War II as training boats when they were recommissioned in 1941.

The O-class were built by five shipyards: O-1 by Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, O-2 by Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, O-3 through O-10 by Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, O-11 through O-13 by Lake Torpedo Boat Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut, and O-14 through O-16 by California Shipbuilding (formerly Craig Shipbuilding), Long Beach, California.^[1][2]

Service

The class originally operated in the anti-submarine role off the USA's East Coast. Two of the boats, USS O-4 and USS O-6, came under fire from a British merchantman in the Atlantic on 24 July 1918. The steamer scored six hits on O-4's conning tower and pressure hull before her identity was discovered. O-4 suffered minor damage caused by shell splinters. USS O-3 to USS O-10 boats formed part of the twenty-strong submarine force that left Newport, Rhode Island on 2 November 1918 for the Azores, but the task force was recalled after the Armistice was signed nine days later.

Nine O type submarines from Submarine Division 8 at Boston, 1921

The second group of boats suffered from electrical problems. USS O-11 was immediately sent to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for a five-month overhaul. In October 1918, USS O-13 sank the patrol boat USS Mary Alice (SP-397) in a collision while she (O-13) was submerged.^[3] USS O-15 also underwent a refit but was sent into reserve soon after before she went into service at Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone. This also involved another overhaul. USS O-16 also underwent a refit soon after commissioning and later suffered a fire in her conning tower in December 1919. All of the group 2 boats were decommissioned in July 1924 and were scrapped in July 1930 under the terms of the London Naval Treaty. However, USS O-12 was disarmed, renamed Nautilus, and used in an Arctic expedition by Sir Hubert Wilkins. After being returned to the US Navy, she was scuttled in a Norwegian fjord in November 1931.

The first group served well although USS O-5 was rammed by a cargo ship and sunk near the Panama Canal on 28 October 1923 with the loss of three crew members. All of the surviving Group 1 boats were decommissioned in 1931, but were recommissioned in 1941 to serve as training boats based at the Naval Submarine Base New London, Connecticut. These boats were taken out of service following World War II except for USS O-9 which sank in deep submergence trials in June 1941. Thirty-three of her crew were lost.

At some point between the wars the O-class was modified for improved safety in the event of sinking. Two marker buoys were added fore and aft. In the event the submarine was stranded on the bottom the buoys could be released to show the submarine's position. A motor room hatch was also added, the motor room being the aftermost compartment. The tapered after casing became a step as a result of these modifications.^[4]

At least one O-class submarine can be seen briefly in the 1943 movie Crash Dive, filmed at the New London submarine base.

O-3 underway, 1918

Ships in class

The 16 submarines of the O-class were:

Group 1 (Electric Boat design)

Group 2 (Lake Torpedo Boat Company design)

References

• Submarines, War Beneath the Waves, from 1776 to the Present Day, By Robert Hutchinson.
• Gardiner, Robert, Conway's all the world's fighting ships 1906-1921 Conway Maritime Press, 1985. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
• Friedman, Norman "US Submarines through 1945: An Illustrated Design History", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis:1995, ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
• Navsource.org early diesel submarines page
• Pigboats.com O-boats page
• DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com 3"/23 caliber gun
• ShipbuildingHistory.com Craig Shipbuilding page
• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to O class submarines of the United States.

• List of lost United States submarines
• List of United States submarine classes