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Photo # NH 81352:  USS L-5 underway, circa 1918

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

USS L-5 (Submarine # 44, later SS-44), 1918-1925

USS L-5, lowest numbered though last completed of a class of four 456-ton Lake-type submarines, was built at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Commissioned in mid-February 1918, she operated in U.S. East Coast waters until October of that year, when she deployed to the Central Atlantic. World War I ended soon after L-5 arrived in the Azores, and she returned to the U.S. in December 1918. Early in 1919 the submarine went to the Caribbean, then transited the Panama Canal to begin service along the West Coast. That duty lasted until mid-1922, when she returned to the Atlantic. USS L-5 was decommissioned in December 1922 and laid up. She was sold for scrapping three years later.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS L-5 (Submarine # 44, later SS-44).


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 81352

USS L-5
(Submarine # 44)

Underway, circa 1918.

Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 47KB; 740 x 590 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 51133

USS L-5
(Submarine # 44)

Making 9.05 knots during submerged trials off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 15 August 1917.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 540 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 107495

USS L-5
(Submarine # 44, later SS-44)

Panoramic photograph of the submarine underway, with officers and crew members on deck, circa 1919-1921.
Note the Lewis light machine gun on deck, just forward of the men standing beside the fairwater.

Donation of Charles Hafner, 2010.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 54 KB; 1200 x 500 pixels

 

High-Resolution JPG
Photo #: NH 103256

Submarines at a West Coast port, circa 1919-1922


The Lake type USS L-8 (SS-48) is at the outboard (left) end of the nest, with her sister, USS L-7 (SS-46), in the middle (3rd from left). USS H-3 (SS-30) is between them, with another Electric Boat Company submarine second from right. The inboard (right) "boat" and that in the foreground are the other two units of the Lake-designed L-5 class, USS L-5 (SS-44) and USS L-6 (SS-45).
Note piloting station details, periscope, and wide deck of the Lake type "L-boat" in the foreground.

Collection of Chief Engineman Virgil Breland, USN. Donated by Mrs. E.H. Breland, 1979.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 97KB; 740 x 455 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103255

Submarines at a West Coast port, circa 1919-1922


The Lake type USS L-8 (SS-48) is at the outboard (left) end of the nest, with her sister, USS L-7 (SS-46), in the middle (3rd from left). USS H-3 (SS-30) is between them, with another Electric Boat Company submarine second from right. The inboard "boat" and that in the foreground are the other two units of the Lake-designed L-5 class, USS L-5 (SS-44) and USS L-6 (SS-45).
Note the "Y-tube" hydrophone mounted on the bow of the submarine in the foreground.

Collection of Chief Engineman Virgil Breland, USN. Donated by Mrs. E.H. Breland, 1979.

U.S. Naval History and Heritage Command Photograph.

Online Image: 89KB; 740 x 460 pixels

 


NOTES:

  • To the best of our knowledge, the pictures referenced here are all in the Public Domain, and can therefore be freely downloaded and used for any purpose.

  • Some images linked from this page may bear obsolete credit lines citing the organization name: "Naval Historical Center". Effective 1 December 2008 the name should be cited as: "Naval History and Heritage Command".


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


    Return to Naval History and Heritage Command home page.

    Page made 29 October 2005
    New image added 16 February 2011