USS ''L-5'' (SS-44) was an L-class submarine built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during the 1910s.

Description

The L-class boats designed by

Lake Torpedo Boat The Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was an early builder of submarines for the United States Navy in the early 20th century. History Founded by Simon Lake in 1912, the company was located at the east end of Seaview Avenue i ...

(''L-5'' through ''L-8'') were built to slightly different specifications from the other L boats, which were designed by

Electric Boat An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators. While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail power ...

, and are sometimes considered a separate ''L-5'' class. The Lake boats had a length of

overall Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers ...

, a beam of and a mean

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The L-class submarines had a crew of 28 officers and enlisted men. They had a diving depth of .Friedman, p. 307 For surface running, the boats were powered by two

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. When submerged each propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Lake boats had a range of at and at submerged.Gardiner & Gray, p. 129 The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The L-class submarines were also armed with a single 3"/50 caliber

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

Construction and career

''L-5''s

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...

was laid down on 14 May 1914 by

Company in

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

, launched on 1 May 1916, sponsored by Mrs. Rosalind Robinson, and commissioned on 17 February 1918. After exercises along the Atlantic coast, ''L-5'' departed

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the List of municipalities in South Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of South Carolina. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint of South Carolina's coastline on Charleston Harbor, an inlet of the Atla ...

, on 15 October 1918 with Submarine Division 6 and reached the

Azores The Azores ( , , ; , ), officially the Autonomous Region of the Azores (), is one of the two autonomous regions of Portugal (along with Madeira). It is an archipelago composed of nine volcanic islands in the Macaronesia region of the North Atl ...

on 7 November. Following the

Armistice with Germany {{Short description, none This is a list of armistices signed by the German Empire (1871–1918) or Nazi Germany (1933–1945). An armistice is a temporary agreement to cease hostilities. The period of an armistice may be used to negotiate a peace t ...

on 11 November, ''L-5'' headed west, arriving

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

on 1 December. She participated in exercises in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere, located south of the Gulf of Mexico and southwest of the Sargasso Sea. It is bounded by the Greater Antilles to the north from Cuba ...

before steaming on to

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; ) is a neighborhood located within the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay and Los Angeles Harbor Region, Harbor region of the city of Los Angeles, California, United States. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los ...

, where she arrived 13 February 1919. From 1919 to 1922, she remained on the West Coast experimenting with new

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es and underseas detection equipment. ''L-5'' departed San Pedro on 25 July 1922, and, after visits in

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

, and the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

, she arrived

Hampton Roads Hampton Roads is a body of water in the United States that serves as a wide channel for the James River, James, Nansemond River, Nansemond, and Elizabeth River (Virginia), Elizabeth rivers between Old Point Comfort and Sewell's Point near whe ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

, on 28 September. The submarine remained there until she decommissioned on 5 December 1922. She was sold on 21 December 1925 to Passaic Salvage and Reclamation Company in

Newark, New Jersey Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...

, and scrapped.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:L-05 (SS-44) United States L-class submarines World War I submarines of the United States Ships built in Groton, Connecticut 1916 ships