O-1 (SS-62) and S-3 under construction inside the old Franklin Shiphouse at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., May or June 1918. The O-1 was only the 2nd submarine to be built at a Government shipyard. The Navy's Bureau of Construction & Repair had obtained a license from Electric Boat to build the O-1 at Portsmouth. Work on her and the previous L-8 (SS-48) gave the Navy the confidence it needed in its construction process to authorize a significant number of S-class to be built at Portsmouth. In this photo O-1 is approximately a month away from launching, S-3 would follow in December 1918. O-1 was built to the typical EB style single hull design (Portsmouth built her directly from the EB plans), while the much larger S-3 was built to a full double hull design developed by C&R. S-3's external framework is visible in the areas that have not yet been plated over.
Milne Special Collections, University of New Hampshire Library, Durham, N.H.
S-3 sliding down the ways at Portsmouth, December 21, 1918. The war was over, but the Navy was just getting started with S-boat construction. A long work platform is still attached to the starboard side of S-3. It will be removed later as construction moves forward. There are a lot of personnel on the deck, along with numerous signal flags strung stem to stern.
