S-42 through S-47
From PigBoats.COM
Design and Construction Notes
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 enacted a level of revenge for the disastrous allied defeat at the Battle of Savo Island by sinking the Japanese heavy cruiser Kako 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)
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S-43 (SS-154)
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S-44 (SS-155)*
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S-45 (SS-156)
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S-46 (SS-157)
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S-47 (SS-158)
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(*) Indicates a boat lost during WWII.
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