USS S-40, a 1062-ton S-1 class submarine, was built at San Francisco, California. Commissioned in November 1923, she served along the west coast and in early 1924 went to the Caribbean for a few months of fleet exercises. With several of her sister "S-boats", S-40 was sent to the Philippines during September-November 1924. Serving thereafter as a unit of the Asiatic Fleet, she participated in a regular program of peacetime operations in the Philippines and off the China coast.
S-40 was in Manila Bay when Japanese agression started the Pacific War on 8 December 1941. For most of the rest of that month she made patrols as part of the unsuccessful effort to defend the Philippines. On 23 December she attacked enemy invasion forces in Lingayen Gulf, but her torpedoes missed, and the submarine endured a punishing depth charging in return. Later in the month, she was ordered to leave the now untenable Philippine area and take up duty in defense of the Netherlands East Indies. When those islands fell to the seemingly invincible Japanese during February 1942, S-40 moved onward to Australia. She made three scoreless war patrols into the Solomon Islands and New Guinea areas during May-September then, in October and November, transited to Pearl Harbor by way of the Gilbert Islands.
Following overhaul on the west coast, in June 1943 S-40 was sent north to the Aleutians, where she conducted two patrols before incessant electrical problems and oil leaks caused her to be ordered back to the U.S. For the rest of World War II, the elderly submarine was employed on training service along the west coast. USS S-40 was decommissioned in late October 1945 and sold for scrapping in November 1946.
This page features all the views we have concerning USS S-40 (SS-145).
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 51815 USS S-40 (SS-145) Alongside USS Pigeon (ASR-6), at Shanghai, China, 1932. Photographed by Gustave J. Freret, Jr., USN U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 82KB; 740 x 585 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 80143 USS S-40 (SS-145) Underway during gunnery exercises in Philippine waters, circa 1933-1934. A target raft is visible in the right distance. Courtesy of Captain G.K. Bishop, USAF, 1974. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 460 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 104940 USS Canopus (AS-9) In Apra Harbor, Guam, 29 October 1924, with all six members of Submarine Division 17 alongside. The division consisted of: U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 625 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 55048 USS Canopus (AS-9) In Apra Harbor, Guam, with Submarine Division 17 alongside, 29 October 1924. Submarine Division 17's members were: U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 85KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-1014615 USS Canopus (AS-9) With the Asiatic Fleet's Submarine Squadron Five alongside, during the 1930s. The submarines present include (from left to right): S-37 (SS-142); S-40 (SS-145); S-36 (SS-141); S-38 (SS-143); S-41 (SS-146); S-39 (SS-144). Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 80KB; 740 x 605 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 80142 Submarine Squadron Five (SubRon 5) Boats of SubRon 5 at Olongapo, Philippine Islands, circa 1933-1934. Submarines present are S-37 (SS-142), S-38 (SS-143), S-39 (SS-144) and S-40 (SS-145). Courtesy of Captain G.K. Bishop, USAF, 1974. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 64KB; 740 x 470 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 59971 USS S-40 (SS-145) Inspection of the ship's crew by Commander Submarines, Asiatic Fleet, 1935. The submarine's deck gun, a 4"/50 wet mount, is in the center of the photograph. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 120KB; 655 x 675 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 59969 Submarine Division Seventeen (SubDiv 17) Boats of SubDiv 17, Asiatic Fleet, moored alongside USS Canopus (AS-9) at Tsingtao, China, in 1930. Submarines in the foreground include (from left to right): USS S-40 (SS-145); USS S-38 (SS-143); and USS S-41 (SS-146). Another submarine is approaching, in the center distance. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 86KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 51833 USS S-38 (SS-143) Nested between sister submarines S-40 (SS-145), at left, and S-41 (SS-146), at right, alongside USS Canopus (AS-9) off Tsingtao, China, in 1930. Note these submarines' 4"/50 deck guns. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 127KB; 740 x 595 pixels |
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Photo #: NH 51831 USS S-38 (SS-143) Nested between sister submarines S-41 (SS-146), at left, and S-40 (SS-145), at right, alongside USS Canopus (AS-9) at Tsingtao, China, in 1930. Note awnings spread aft on these submarines. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 117KB; 740 x 600 pixels |
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Photo #: 80-G-77065 Submarine Squadron FIVE (SubRon 5) A Chief Torpedoman paints another "hashmark" on the Torpedo Shop scoreboard of Japanese ships claimed sunk by SubRon 5's "S-Boats", operating out of Brisbane, Australia, during April-November 1942. Photographed on board USS Griffin (AS-13), tender to the squadron. Submarines listed on the scoreboard include S-37 (SS-142), S-38 (SS-143), S-39 (SS-144), S-40 (SS-145), S-41 (SS-146), S-42 (SS-153), S-43 (SS-154), S-44 (SS-155), S-45 (SS-156), S-46 (SS-157), and S-47 (SS-158). The original caption dates the photo on 7 January 1943, but it may have been taken earlier, as Griffin left Australia in November 1942. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives. Online Image: 104KB; 585 x 765 pixels Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system. |
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Photo #: NH 97964 USS S-40 (SS-145) Photomontage of the ship's launching, at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Union Plant, Potrero Works, San Francisco, California, on 5 January 1921. The image includes views of S-40 sliding down the shipways and of her sponsor, Mrs. John H. Rosseter. Collection of the Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Online Image: 95KB; 600 x 765 pixels |
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Photo #: 19-LC-49S-2 USS S-40 (SS-145) Fitting out at the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Union Plant, Potrero Works, San Francisco, California, on 27 September 1923. The steamship Cethana is in the right background. Photograph from the Collections of the U.S. National Archives. Online Image: 157KB; 740 x 620 pixels |
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If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 24 May 2002
New images added 28 August 2007