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The American submarine S-44 in the water, date unknown.
The American S-class submarines, often simply called S-boats (sometimes "Sugar" boats, after the then contemporary Navy phonetic alphabet for "S"), were the first class of submarines with a significant number built to United States Navy designs. Others of this class were built to contractor designs.
The United States Navy commissioned 58 S-class submarines from 1920 to 1925. The first S-boat, USS S-1 (SS-105), was commissioned in 1918 and the last numerically, USS S-58 (SS-162), in 1922. The last of the class actually commissioned was USS S-47 (SS-151) in 1925. The S class is subdivided into four groups of different designs:
- Group I (S1-class, or "Holland" type):S-1 and S-18 to S-41, built by Bethlehem Steel at Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts and Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California, as subcontractors for the designer, the Electric Boat Company.
- Group II (S3-class, or "Navy Yard" type): S-3 to S-17, built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard and Lake Torpedo Boat at Bridgeport, Connecticut.
- Group III (S42-class, or "2nd Holland" type): S-42 to S-47, built at Fore River.
- Group IV (S48-class, or "2nd Navy Yard" type): S-48 to S-58, built by Lake.
USS S-2 was a prototype built by Lake, and was not repeated.
S-1, S-2, and S-3 were prototypes built to the same specification: S-1 designed by Electric Boat, S-2 by Lake, and S-3 by the Bureau of Construction and Repair (later Bureau of Ships). The Lake boat was considered inferior. The Electric Boat and BuC&R designs were put into production as Group I and Group II.
SS-163 to SS-170 (2nd Holland) and SS-171 to SS-176 (2nd Navy Yard) were cancelled and, contrary to later practice, the hull numbers were used for subsequent submarines. Some of the material for these was used by Electric Boat to build the Peruvian Navy's four R-boats.
The first S-boat, S-1, was launched on September 26th 1918, by Bethlehem at Fore River, but not commissioned until June 5th 1920.
Unit Run[]
- APNS S-1 (SS-105)
- USS S-2 (SS-106) - sold for scrap, 14 September 1931
- USS S-3 (SS-107) - laid up, 24 March 1931; scrapped 25 January 1937
- USS S-4 (SS-108) - sunk by US Navy forces to prevent capture during Second American Civil War
- USS S-5 (SS-109) - sunk during crash dive, 1 September 1920
- USS S-6 (SS-110) - laid up, 10 April 1931; scrapped 25 January 1937
- APNS S-7 (SS-111)
- APNS S-8 (SS-112)
- APNS S-9 (SS-113)
- USS S-10 (SS-114) - scuttled to prevent capture during Second American Civil War
- APNS S-11 (SS-115)
- APNS S-12 (SS-116)
- APNS S-13 (SS-117)
- APNS S-14 (SS-118)
- APNS S-15 (SS-119)
- APNS S-16 (SS-120)
- APNS S-17 (SS-121)
- APNS S-18 (SS-122)
- USS S-19 (SS-123) - sunk by US Navy forces to prevent capture during Second American Civil War
- APNS S-20 (SS-124)
- APNS S-21 (SS-125)
- APNS S-22 (SS-126)
- APNS S-23 (SS-127)
- APNS S-24 (SS-128)
- APNS S-25 (SS-129)
- APNS S-26 (SS-130)
- APNS S-27 (SS-131)
- APNS S-28 (SS-132)
- APNS S-29 (SS-133)
- APNS S-30 (SS-134)
- APNS S-31 (SS-135)
- APNS S-32 (SS-136)
- APNS S-33 (SS-137)
- APNS S-34 (SS-138)
- APNS S-35 (SS-139)
- USS S-36 (SS-140) - defected to Philippines in the aftermath of the Second American Civil War
- USS S-37 (SS-141) - defected to Philippines in the aftermath of the Second American Civil War
- USS S-38 (SS-142) - defected to Philippines in the aftermath of the Second American Civil War
- USS S-39 (SS-143) - defected to Philippines in the aftermath of the Second American Civil War
- USS S-40 (SS-144) - defected to Philippines in the aftermath of the Second American Civil War
- USS S-41 (SS-145) - defected to Philippines in the aftermath of the Second American Civil War
- APNS S-42 (SS-146)
- APNS S-43 (SS-147)
- APNS S-44 (SS-148)
- APNS S-45 (SS-149)
- APNS S-46 (SS-150)
- APNS S-47 (SS-151)
- APNS S-48 (SS-152)
- APNS S-49 (SS-153)
- USS S-50 (SS-154) - scrapped, 1931
- USS S-51 (SS-155) - sunk in accident, 25 September 1925
- APNS S-52 (SS-156)
- APNS S-53 (SS-157)
- APNS S-54 (SS-158)
- APNS S-55 (SS-159)
- APNS S-56 (SS-160)
- APNS S-57 (SS-161)
- APNS S-58 (SS-162)