S-48 on the ways at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, Bridgeport, CT., on her launch day of February 26, 1921. Note the angled steel guard attached to the hull over the non-retractable bow planes. This prevented a tug or other boat from hitting and damaging the planes. It also allowed a mooring cable for a mine to pass without being snared.
U.S. Navy photo NH 108448 courtesy of the NHHC.
A broad port side view of S-48 on the ways at the Lake yard in Bridgeport, CT. on February 26, 1921. Crowds have gathered on this snowy day to see the always exciting launch of one of Uncle Sam's undersea hunters.
U.S. Navy photo NH 108453 via the NHHC.
This photo, taken just prior to the launch of the S-48, is of the ship's sponsor, Mrs. James O. Germaine. She is a Native American princess of the Mohican Tribe. She was selected by Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels to be the sponsor. Her Mohican name is Princess Tocoomwas. The bow of the S-48 can be seen in the right background.
There is another woman in tribal dress on the left and she is wearing a number of beaded necklaces. On her dress on the lower front is a swastika. It has nothing to do with the Nazi party at this time. It is an ancient symbol that has history going back thousands of years and has various meanings depending on the region of the world it appears. The word swastika derives from the Sanskrit "svastika" meaning "lucky or auspicious object". it is commonly used as a religious symbol in Hinduism and Buddhism. It was considered as a luck symbol in many cultures.
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
S-48 sliding down the ways and touching the water for the first time, February 26, 1921. The wooden cradle that she is sitting on will float free once she is fully waterborne. The cradle will be retrieved by a tug and reused.
U.S. Navy photo NH 108451 courtesy of the NHHC.
S-48 fully afloat in the waters of Bridgeport Harbor after launching from the Lake Torpedo Boat Company yard, February 26, 1921. Tugs have made up to her and will be moving her to the fitting out pier. The launch cradle can be seen floating on the far left, and pancake ice litters the water on this cold winter day.
U.S. Navy photo NH 108449 courtesy of the NHHC.
S-48 alongside the fitting out pier at the Lake yard, February 26, 1921. She is sitting high in the water as much work remains to be done, including installing the heavy battery cells. The bow plane guard can be seen just below the round superstructure limber holes.
U.S. Navy photo NH 108450 courtesy of the NHHC.
U.S. Navy photo.
Photo courtesy of T. Gray Curtis.
After she was completed but before she was accepted by the Navy, a Lake company crew along with some Navy observers took S-48 out to sea on builder's trials on December 7, 1921. During a dive off Penfield Reef in Long Island Sound, S-48 sank by the stern in 60 feet of water and came to rest upright on the bottom. The Lake crew was able to blow the forward ballast tanks and they brought the bow to the surface. They disconnected the interlocks for both ends of #1 torpedo tube and escaped through the tube to a tug which took them to New York. No one was injured. These pictures were taken during the subsequent salvage operation. The photo on the right shows that the open tube's muzzle door has been shut and braced closed by wooden beams. This was done to make the forward torpedo room watertight for the salvage operation.
The trial crew from the Lake Torpedo Boat Company is seen here as photographed for a newspaper story after their rescue from the sunken S-48. There is no indication which newspaper it may be as the photo was removed by Captain Austin and was in his personal papers. All the men's names were listed for the photo but due to damage the last three men to the right on the top row are unreadable. Captain Austin had been the commanding officer of the USS G-2 (Submarine No. 27) during WW I. He had left the Navy and was employed by Lake.
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
U.S. Navy photo.
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Simon Lake promptly hired the Merritt & Chapman company of New York for the salvage effort. Most of the boat was still watertight so the evolution was relatively simple as salvage jobs go. These two pictures were taken during the salvage operation. A floating derrick was used to raise the stern so that the water could be pumped out. The operation was complete just 13 days after the sinking and S-48 was towed back to the Lake yard in Bridgeport for repairs. A subsequent investigation forced Simon Lake to sheepishly admit that one of his workers had left a manhole cover off an aft ballast tank. When the boat submerged the open cover allowed water to flood the after part of the boat. They got very lucky. If the dive had occurred in deeper water the ending could have been disastrous. S-48 was eventually repaired and she was commissioned into the Navy on October 14, 1922.
S-48 and her crew pierside at an unknown location, summer 1923. The crew seems pretty relaxed. Laundry is hanging from the radio aerial wires on the right.
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
S-48 was a hard luck boat. On the evening of January 29, 1926 she was on her way back to Portsmouth when she ran aground in a snowstorm on Jaffrey Point at the southern mouth of the Piscataqua River. She freed herself after a bit, but in the worsening weather conditions she grounded again at Little Harbor. This time she was stuck hard and the poor weather was causing her to roll excessively on the beach. Her battery was flooding and chlorine gas forced the crew to abandon ship. The entire crew survived, but several men had to be treated for gas exposure. This photo shows her on the beach at Little Harbor on January 30, 1926.
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
A closeup of S-48's conning tower fairwater, heeled far over to starboard, grounded at Little Harbor, New Hampshire, January 30, 1926. The bridge fairwater juts out over the conning tower itself, three of the seven small round deadlight windows in the conning tower can be seen just below the bridge overhang. Just to the left of the "S 48" are three round watertight ammunition storage lockers for the 4"/50 caliber deck gun. The radio mast near the top of the photo appears to be bent.
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Salvage operations on the stranded S-48 began immediately. She was refloated on February 7th and was towed to the Portsmouth Navy Yard just a few miles away. This photo shows a wrecking derrick helping to refloat her and the Navy harbor tug USS Penacook (YTM-6).
U.S. Navy photo.
Penacook and another tug towing the S-48 up the Piscataqua River near the Portsmouth Navy Yard, February 7, 1926. They are just passing the Portsmouth Naval Prison at the east end of the yard. The sub is sitting pretty low in the water, as she has not been completely dewatered yet.
U.S. Navy photo.
S-48 and Penacook very near the end of the tow to the Portsmouth yard, preparing to hand off the submarine to the drydock, February 7, 1926
U.S. Navy photo.
Two views of the S-48 in drydock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME. on February 8, 1926. Hull plates along her bottom have been heavily indented, her starboard bow diving plane has been ripped off and the guard bent up, and her starboard side propeller, shaft and stern diving plane have been destroyed. In the left photo the large round plate is the transducer for the Fessenden Oscillator, an early form of sonar. The damaged strip underneath it is the former location for the MV series passive sonar. The oblong housing and transducers have been completely sheared off by the grounding, leaving dangling wires. In the photo on the right, the stern torpedo tube can be seen jutting through the stern "chisel". Compare this configuration to the one for the S-11 (SS-116) and the differences in the stern tube design can be clearly seen.
U.S. Navy photos.
In the period between 1925 and 1928 the damaged S-48 was in and out of commission at Portsmouth as the Navy dithered on whether she would be repaired. Finally, she was taken in hand in early 1928 and thoroughly overhauled and modernized in compliance with a Navy scheme to modernize the Government design S-boats. It was thought that these boats could become excellent long range patrol submarines if their basic deficiencies could be corrected. S-48 was lengthened by 25 feet 6 inches, her battery was completely replaced and divided into two compartments, she received brand new MAN engines, and her interior was completely renovated and brought up to date. She also received one of the first air conditioning plants ever installed on a USN submarine. She is shown here alongside in Portsmouth probably while the conversion work was still ongoing, fall of 1928.
