Wikipedia

United States L-class submarine

For other ships with the same name, see British L-class submarine.

The United States L-class submarines were a class of 11 coastal defense submarines built 1914–1917, and were the most modern and capable submarines available to United States Navy when the country entered World War I. Despite being considered a successful design by the USN, war experience in European waters demonstrated that the boats lacked the range, speed, and endurance to conduct extended patrols in the North Atlantic.[2]

USS L-1 running trials
USS L-1 (SS-40) lead ship of her class during running trials.
Class overview
NameL class
Builders
Operators United States Navy
Preceded byK class
Succeeded byUSS M-1
Built1914–1917
In commission1916–1923
Completed11
Retired11
Preserved0
General characteristics
TypeSubmarine
Displacement
  • EB design:
  • 450 long tons (457 t) surfaced
  • 548 long tons (557 t) submerged
  • Lake design:
  • 451 long tons (458 t) surfaced
  • 527 long tons (535 t) submerged
Length
  • EB design: 168 ft 5 in (51.33 m)
  • Lake design: 165 ft (50 m)
Beam
  • EB design: 17 ft 4 in (5.28 m)
  • Lake design: 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
Draft
  • EB design: 13 ft 7 in (4.14 m)
  • Lake design: 13 ft 3 in (4.04 m)
Installed power
  • EB design:
  • 1,300 hp (970 kW) (diesel engines),
  • 800 hp (600 kW) (electric motors)
  • Lake design:
  • 1,200 hp (890 kW) (diesel engines),
  • 800 hp (600 kW) (electric motors)
Propulsion
Speed
  • 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) surfaced
  • 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) submerged
Range
  • 4,500 nmi (8,300 km) at 7 kn (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) (surfaced)
  • 150 nmi (280 km) at 5 kn (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph) (submerged)
Test depth200 ft (61 m)
Complement28 officers and men
Armament

Design

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These submarines were built to two distinctly different designs at four separate shipyards.[3] The Electric Boat Company (EB) of New York City (later Groton, Connecticut) went the route they followed with previous designs and simply scaled up their standard single hull, spindle shaped, twin propeller, axial rudder design to meet the requirements of the Navy. They were contracted for L-1 through L-4 and L-9 through L-11, and these would be built at EB's sub-contractor Fore River Shipbuilding Co. in Quincy, Massachusetts.[4] For the first time EB did away with the rotating bow cap for the torpedo tube muzzle doors. It was replaced by individual faired-in shutter doors that would later become a standard design feature.[5] Simon Lake's Lake Torpedo Boat Company returned to the fold and submitted a very different design that would become L-5 through L-8. These boats were similar in size and capability to the EB design, but they had a ventrally mounted rudder and propeller shafts, a watertight superstructure to aid in surface buoyancy, and different engines and motors. They also had three sets of amidships mounted diving planes, as opposed to EB's standard bow and stern planes.[6] The only one of the four that would actually be built at Lake's Bridgeport, Connecticut yard was L-5. The Navy wanted some of the boats built at a west coast shipyard, so Lake sub-contracted with the Craig Shipbuilding Company of Long Beach, California to build L-6 and L-7. Desirous of creating their own in-house submarine construction capability, the Navy's Bureau of Construction and Repair obtained a license from Lake to build the L-8 at the government owned Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, Maine. L-8 would be the first of many submarines built at government Navy Yards.[7]

As in previous U.S. designs, the conning tower and fairwater was kept small for reduced drag when submerged. For extended surface runs, the fairwater was augmented with a temporary piping-and-canvas structure (see photo) which took considerable time to deploy and dismantle. Experience in World War I showed that this was inadequate in the North Atlantic weather, and these boats, along with other submarines serving overseas in that war (E-class and K-class) had their bridge structures replaced with a permanent steel "chariot" shield on the front of the bridge. Chariot style bridges became standard on later U.S. submarines.[8]

This was the first U.S. submarine class equipped with a deck gun, in this case a 3-inch/23 caliber (76 mm) partially retractable design. The gun was installed on the EB design boats only, the Lake design never received one.[9] The gun was retracted vertically, with a round shield that fit over the top of a well in the superstructure that projected into the pressure hull. Most of the barrel protruded from the deck, resembling a stanchion. The round shield doubled as a blast deflector for the gun crew, and as the watertight top of the well.[10][11] This gun was roundly disliked by the submarine crews because it lacked range, hitting power, and had the tendency to retract back into the well when fired, presenting a great hazard to the gun crew.[12]

Service

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After service in the Atlantic Flotilla by the Electric Boat design submarines, most required extensive refits at Philadelphia after the USA's entry into the First World War, which reflected the U.S. Navy's then-limited experience in submarine ocean operations. In December 1917, the seven boats were sent to Bantry Bay as Submarine Division 5 for convoy escort and anti-U-boat patrols. The four new Lake design L-boats later deployed to the Azores in November 1918 as Division 6 to reinforce four K-class submarines sent there in October 1917. While forward deployed, U.S. L-class submarines had the letter "A" added to the name displayed on the fairwater (i.e. AL-1) to avoid confusion with British L-class submarines.[13]

U.S. submarines did not sink any U-boats in World War I, despite the immense effort of getting them to the war zone. Many lessons were learned and these were poured into the design of follow-on submarines.[14] After the war, the L-class were involved in trials of new torpedoes and hydrophone equipment on both the east and west coasts before decommissioning in 1922 and 1923. At least L-3, L-9, and L-11 were re-engined with Busch-Sulzer diesels removed from Lake-built N-boats in 1921.[15] Three EB design boats were scrapped in 1922, the four Lake design boats were scrapped in 1925, and the remainder were scrapped in 1933 under the London Naval Treaty limiting naval armament.

 
L-8 acting as a target for torpedo testing off Newport Rhode Island May 26,1926. This was obviously a miss. Another shot later that day sank her.[16]


Boats in class

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The 11 submarines of the L class were:

Electric Boat design

Ship name and Hull no. Builder Laid Down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Fate
USS L-1 (SS-40) Fore River Shipbuilding 13 April 1914 20 January 1915 11 April 1916 7 April 1922 Scrapped 1922
USS L-2 (SS-41) 19 March 1914 11 February 1915 29 September 1916 4 May 1923 Scrapped 1933
USS L-3 (SS-42) 18 April 1914 15 March 1915 22 April 1916 11 June 1923 Scrapped 1933
USS L-4 (SS-43) 23 March 1914 3 April 1915 4 May 1916 14 April 1922 Scrapped 1922
USS L-9 (SS-49) 2 November 1914 27 October 1915 4 August 1916 4 May 1923 Scrapped 1933
USS L-10 (SS-50) 17 February 1915 16 March 1916 2 August 1916 5 May 1922 Scrapped 1922
USS L-11 (SS-51) 17 February 1915 16 May 1916 15 August 1916 28 November 1923 Scrapped 1933

Lake Torpedo Boat Company design

Ship name and Hull no. Builder Laid Down Launched Commissioned Decommissioned Fate
USS L-5 (SS-44) Lake Torpedo Boat Company 14 May 1914 1 May 1916 17 February 1918 5 December 1922 Scrapped 1925
USS L-6 (SS-45) Craig Shipbuilding Company 27 May 1914 31 August 1916 7 December 1917 25 November 1922 Scrapped 1925
USS L-7 (SS-46) 2 June 1914 28 September 1916 7 December 1917 15 November 1922 Scrapped 1925
USS L-8 (SS-48) Portsmouth Navy Yard 24 February 1915 23 April 1917 30 August 1917 15 November 1922 Sunk as target 1926

See also

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References

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Notes

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  1. ^ All statistics from PigBoats.COM Submarine Specifications page
  2. ^ PigBoats.COM L-class page
  3. ^ Ibid
  4. ^ Ibid
  5. ^ Friedman pp. 84-85
  6. ^ Friedman, pp. 85
  7. ^ PigBoats.COM L-class page
  8. ^ Friedman, pp. 84
  9. ^ Friedman, pp. 307
  10. ^ PigBoats.COM L-class page
  11. ^ DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com 3"/23 caliber gun
  12. ^ Christley, Jim, U.S. Submarine Deck Guns, 2010, PigBoats.COM
  13. ^ PigBoats.COM L-class page
  14. ^ Ibid
  15. ^ NavSource Naval History N-class page
  16. ^ PigBoats.COM L-8 page

Sources

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  • Hutchinson, Robert (2001). Jane's submarines : war beneath the waves from 1776 to the present day. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0007105588.
  • Gardiner, Robert, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 Conway Maritime Press, 1985. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Friedman, Norman "US Submarines through 1945: An Illustrated Design History", Naval Institute Press, Annapolis:1995, ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
  • Silverstone, Paul H., U.S. Warships of World War I (Ian Allan, 1970), ISBN 0-71100-095-6.
  • Navsource.org early diesel submarines page
  • PigBoats.COM L-class pages
  • ShipbuildingHistory.com Craig Shipbuilding page
  • DiGiulian, Tony Navweaps.com 3"/23 caliber gun
  •   This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
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