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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 51129:  USS L-3 in Bantry Bay, Ireland, 1918

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS L-3 (Submarine # 42, later SS-42), 1916-1933

USS L-3, a 450-ton L-1 class submarine, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. After entering commissioned service in April 1916 she operated along the U.S. East Coast, performing peacetime duties and, after the U.S. entered World War I in April 1917, making patrols to counter possible U-Boat activity. From late November 1917 to mid-January L-3 voyaged to the Azores, by way of Bermuda. In February she went on to Bantry Bay, Ireland, from which she conducted patrols against German submarines for the rest of the conflict. Returning to the U.S. during the first month of 1919, L-3 spent the next several years on experimental duty out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New London, Connecticut. She was decommissioned in June 1923 and, after a decade of inactivity, was scrapped in 1933.

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have concerning USS L-3 (Submarine # 42, later SS-42).

For other images related to this submarine, see:

  • USS L-3 (Submarine # 42, later SS-42) -- Part II.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 51126

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    Running trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, in September 1915.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 545 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51128

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    In Hampton Roads, Virginia, 13 December 1916.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 530 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51129

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    Underway off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918.
    Among the camouflaged ships in the distance are a U.S. Navy destroyer (center) and an oil tanker (right).

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 740 x 615 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51130

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    Leading a column of "L" class submarines, off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 92KB; 740 x 585 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 63176

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    View on deck, looking aft toward the fairwater, while the submarine was underway off Berehaven, Ireland, in 1918.
    Note L-3's 3"/23 deck gun in retracted position just forward of the fairwater.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 52KB; 445 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51131

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    View looking forward as she prepares to submerge, off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918.
    Note diving planes deploying on either side of the bow; "SC Tube" hydrophone and diagonal white stripe (probably a recognition marking) on the foredeck.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 163KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51160

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    Crewman sends a message to another submarine (visible in the center distance) using semaphore flags, during operations off Berehaven, Ireland in 1918.
    Note "SC Tube" type hydrophone and white stripe (probably a recognition marking) on L-3's foredeck.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 109KB; 740 x 465 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 51132

    USS L-3
    (Submarine # 42)

    View of the foredeck, taken while running on the surface off Berehaven, Ireland, 1918.
    Note "SC Tube" type hydrophone.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 470 pixels

     


    For other images related to this submarine, see:

  • USS L-3 (Submarine # 42, later SS-42) -- Part II.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 21 April 2005