These six boats made up the third contract awarded to Electric Boat. All were built at Bethlehem Quincy. The EB designers tinkered with the design somewhat, and these boats were six feet longer and approximately 33 tons heavier than their sister boats. They had a rearranged ballast and fuel tank arrangement and had modifications to their duct keel and Kingston valve installations in an attempt to make them faster divers. They also had a slightly modified but distinctive elongated version of the rounded bow plane pivot covers of the 30 series. The after ventilation intake was incorporated into the conning tower fairwater structure and a full gun access trunk that let into the control room was installed at the forward end of the fairwater. These boats represented the ultimate refinement of the EB S-boat design and were probably the best liked of the series.
The surviving boats were all extensively modernized during the war, receiving air conditioning, radars, updated sonar, and radio updates. They also received extensive changes to their topside arrangement, with cutdown fairwaters, new gun platforms, and rebuilt aft superstructures. After 1942 their original 4"/50 caliber Mk 9 deck gun was replaced with a 3"/50 caliber Mk 17 gun, as the larger guns were needed on the fleet boats.
S-44 is notable because she delivered a level of payback for the disastrous allied defeat at the Battle of Savo Island by sinking the Japanese heavy cruiser Kako the day after the battle on August 10, 1942. Unfortunately, S-44 was lost in action on her fifth patrol off the Aleutians on October 7, 1943. Two men survived. The rest remain "on eternal patrol".
S-42 (SS-153)
Photo in the personal collection of Ric Hedman.
S-42 is seen leaving Pearl Harbor, in the main channel off Hospital Point, approximately 1931. She has been modified for safety, with rescue/marker buoys added along with a motor room escape hatch. Note the differences in her conning tower fairwater configuration as compared to the 20 and 30 series boats.
S-43 is seen in the harbor at San Diego, circa 1930. Naval Air Station North Island is in the background, along with the Navy's first aircraft carrier, the USS Langley (CV-1). The boat may have been moving up to moor to a tender, which would have been anchored somewhere near Ballast Point. Line handlers are present topside, and awnings have already been rigged over the gun and on the aft deck, indicating that she has returned from a run at sea.
