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Photo # NH 44073:  USS Savannah with S-type submarines alongside, December 1924

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

USS Savannah (ID # 3015, later AS-8), 1917-1934.
Originally the German Freighter Saxonia (1899)

USS Savannah, a 10,800 ton submarine tender, was built at Flensburg, Germany, in 1899 as the commercial freighter Saxonia. The German-flag steamer took refuge at Seattle, Washington, when World War I began in August 1914 and was seized when the United States entered the conflict in April 1917. Soon turned over to the Navy, she was renamed Savannah in June 1917. Following conversion for submarine support purposes, the ship was commissioned in early November 1917 and later received the registry ID number 3015.

Late in 1917 Savannah accompanied three submarines on a voyage from the West Coast to the Atlantic, by way of the Panama Canal. She received additional modifications and, in August 1918, began work as mother ship for a division of "O"-class submarines. During the Fall of 1918 Savannah and her flock of undersea craft crossed the Atlantic to the Azores, where they arrived soon after the 11 November Armistice ended the fighting. They then returned to the United States. In 1919 the submarine tender took part in Atlantic Fleet exercises in the Caribbean.

During the early 1920s Savannah, which was designated AS-8 in July 1920, was built up forward, giving her a "flush-deck" appearance. She continued her submarine support work in the western Atlantic area during the first half of the 1920s, but made at least one Panama Canal transit to the Pacific during this time. She was permanently transferred to the big ocean in mid-decade and thereafter operated along the West Coast and in Hawaiian waters. USS Savannah was decommissioned in December 1926, but remained in reserve at the Puget Sound Navy Yard for almost eight more years. Stricken from the Navy list in June 1934, she was sold that September and returned to commercial service. She was renamed Orbis in 1942 and was scrapped in Japan in 1954.

This page features, or provides links to, virtually all the views we have concerning USS Savannah (ID # 3015, later AS-8).

For more pictures concerning USS Savannah, see:

  • USS Savannah (ID # 3015) -- Additional Views taken circa 1917-1919; and
  • USS Savannah (AS-8) -- Additional Views taken circa 1920 and later.


    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.


    The following photos show Savannah in her original configuration, with a well deck forward:

    Photo #: NH 65066

    USS Savannah (ID # 3015)


    At the Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington, 12 November 1917, nine days after entering commissioned service.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 78KB; 625 x 675 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 105648

    USS Savannah
    (ID # 3015, later AS-8)

    Probably shown circa 1918 soon after entering service.

    Donation of Captain Stephen S. Roberts, USNR (Retired), 2008.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 61KB; 740 x 455 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42413

    USS Savannah (ID # 3015)


    In Hampton Roads, Virginia, circa 1919. In the distance are the hospital ship Solace (left) and the supply ship Culgoa (right).
    Photographed by F.J. Kelty.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 44KB; 740 x 430 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98630

    USS Savannah (ID # 3015)


    With "O"-type submarines alongside, circa 1919.
    USS O-6 (Submarine # 67) is outboard at Savannah's bow, and USS O-8 (Submarine # 69) is outboard at her stern.

    Courtesy of Jim Kazalis, 1981.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 440 pixels

     


    The photos below show Savannah in her 1920s configuration, with her former well deck filled in to give her a "flush deck" appearance:

    Photo #: NH 81410

    USS Savannah (AS-8)


    Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 30 August 1924.

    Courtesy of Donald M. McPherson, 1974.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 62KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 44074

    USS Savannah (AS-8)


    At anchor in port, during the 1920s.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 81KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98632

    USS Savannah (AS-8)


    At sea under sail and steam, circa the mid-1920s.
    Photographed by Chief Signalman Peck.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 95KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 44073

    USS Savannah (AS-8)


    With three "S" type submarines alongside, December 1924.
    The outboard submarine is S-27 (SS-132). Savannah tended Submarine Division Eleven, which consisted of S-24 through S-29.
    USS Bushnell (AS-2) is in the left background.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the Collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 80KB; 740 x 570 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98631

    USS Savannah (AS-8)


    At anchor, with "S"-type submarines alongside, 23 December 1924.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.

    Online Image: 114KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 42414

    USS Savannah (AS-8)


    At the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, during the 1920s.
    Taken by the Jones Foto Co.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 75KB; 740 x 445 pixels

     

    For more pictures concerning USS Savannah, see:

  • USS Savannah (ID # 3015) -- Additional Views taken circa 1917-1919; and
  • USS Savannah (AS-8) -- Additional Views taken circa 1920 and later.


    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 14 August 2003
    New image added 11 May 2008