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Photo # NH 41778:  USS S-30 running trials off San Pedro, California, 26 August 1920

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

USS S-30 (SS-135), 1920-1946

USS S-30, an 854-ton S-1 class submarine built at San Francisco, California, was commissioned in late October 1920. After intermittent active service in California waters, in early 1922 she went to New London, Connecticut for mechanical work, followed by operations in Panama, Caribbean and West Coast waters. During the spring and summer of 1925 S-30 crossed the Pacific to join the Asiatic Fleet. She remained in the Far East until 1932, then voyaged to Hawaii, where she was based for the next five years.

The submarine was sent back to the East Coast in mid-1937 and was mainly employed for training until shortly after the United States entered World War II. Beginning in late January 1942, S-30 conducted defensive patrols in the western Atlantic, the Caribbean Sea and off the Pacific coast of Panama. Following repairs, she went to Alaska for service in the harsh climate of the northern Pacific. Though suffering from the frequent mechanical difficulties that typically afflicted submarines of her vintage, she made six war patrols between August 1942 and September 1943. Four of these took her into northern Japanese waters, where she attacked a number of enemy ships, sinking at least one freighter, and endured several depth charge attacks. S-30 also took reconnaissance photographs and, on one occasion, attempted to bombard a Japanese shore facility.

At the end of her Alaskan tour, S-30 was assigned to training service out of San Diego, California. This lasted until the end of World War II. Decommissioned in October 1945, she was sold for scrapping in December 1946.

This page features all the views we have concerning USS S-30 (SS-135).


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 70937

USS S-30
(SS-135)

Underway off San Pedro, California during her trials, 26 August 1920. She is making 8.6 knots on one engine.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 90KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 70176

USS S-30
(SS-135)

Underway off San Pedro, California during her trials, 26 August 1920. She is making 9.7 knots on one engine.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 77KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 70175

USS S-30
(SS-135)

Underway off San Pedro, California during her trials, 26 August 1920. She is making 13.7 knots on two engines.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 70938

USS S-30
(SS-135)

Underway off San Pedro, California during her trials, 26 August 1920. She is making 15.5 knots on two engines.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 41778

USS S-30
(SS-135)

Running trials off San Pedro, California, 26 August 1920.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 595 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 41769

USS S-30
(SS-135)

Underway during the 1920s or 1930s.

The original print was received from the Office of Naval Intelligence in 1936.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 48KB; 740 x 485 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103607

USS S-30
(SS-135)

Underway off the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, during the early or mid-1920s.
The paddle-wheel ferry steamer Bay City is tied up at a Vallejo, California wharf, in the right background.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 53KB; 740 x 435 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 103260

USS S-30
(SS-135)

At the Olongapo Naval Station, Philippine Islands, with several other "S-boats", circa 1925-1932.
All the submarines are dressed with flags, probably for a holiday.

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

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 69KB; 740 x 450 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 59967

USS Beaver
(AS-5)

At Olongapo, Philippines, with six submarines alongside, in March 1929.
The submarines are (from front to rear):
USS S-32 (SS-137);
USS S-35 (SS-140);
USS S-30 (SS-135);
USS S-33 (SS-138);
USS S-31 (SS-136); and
USS S-34 (SS-139).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 122KB; 740 x 605 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 50148

USS S-30
(SS-135)

View on deck, taken while she was in Subic Bay, off Olongapo Naval Station, Philippine Islands, in March 1929.
Standing atop S-30's fairwater, wearing white clothing, is her Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Charles B. Hunt.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 70KB; 590 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 66743

USS S-30
(Submarine # 135)

Afloat immediately after launching, at the Union Iron Works shipyard, San Francisco, California, 21 November 1918.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 55KB; 740 x 610 pixels

 


In addition to the views reference above, the National Archives appears to hold at least one other photograph of USS S-30 (SS-135). The following listing describes this image:

The image listed below is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


  • Photo #: 80-G-456155
    USS S-30 (SS-135) during the 1930s, probably in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
    Port broadside (somewhat toward the bow) surface view. S-30 is painted black, with a white "30" on her fairwater. Light colored smoke from her engines partially obscures her after hull, and she is partially framed by a palm frond in the upper right of the image.


    Reproductions of this image should be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system for pictures not held by the Naval Historical Center.

    The image listed above is NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain it using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".


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


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    Page made 24 August 2006