L-6

L-6 underway in the Napa River near the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., April 15, 1918. Line handlers are lined up on the forward deck with mooring lines flaked out and ready to use. There is one crewman visible in the motor room hatch aft of the conning tower fairwater. By the date of this photo, L-6 has had her permanent chariot style bridge structure installed. Note: NHHC was not completely sure of the photo I.D. They state it could be L-6 or L-7.

Photo NH 51134, courtesy of the NHHC.

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A six photo sequence of the L-6 diving, probably off San Pedro, California, approximately 1920. In the first photo she is barely moving, making this nearly a static dive. By the second picture she has speeded up considerably and is easing herself under.

Note that there is very little angle on the boat. Being a Lake design, these boats had midships diving planes and were intended to dive at a zero-angle, which Simon Lake referred to as "even keel diving". By the sixth photo she has come to a stop and is surfacing. Stopping then surfacing was a somewhat unusual procedure. Normally the boats would have made a running surface maneuver.

Photos courtesy of Mike Dilley, son of Homer "Pat" Dilley, WW I sub vet.

In this seventh photo the L-6 has fully surfaced. Men are on the bridge and water is draining from the superstructure and from the round open scuppers for her watertight superstructure as she moves through the long gentle swells. The slightly humped bow and these round scuppers/flood valves identify this as a Lake design submarine.

Photo courtesy of Mike Dilley, son of Homer "Pat" Dilley, WW I sub vet.

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