United States S Class Submarine - Service

Service

These boats saw service in World War II in both the Atlantic and the Pacific. Smaller and slower than many of the submarines produced for war service, and lacking the range for Pacific Ocean patrols (as well as being 20 years old), they were used in reconnaissance and supply roles, as well as for coastal defense, such as in the Alaska theater during the aftermath of the Battle of the Aleutian Islands. They were withdrawn in mid-1943 as fleet submarines became available, and were relegated to ASW training. Most of the surviving boats were scrapped in 1946.

In World War II, S-class boats did not use the newer Mark 14 torpedo, standard in fleet submarines, due to shorter torpedo tubes, relying on the World War I-vintage Mark 10, instead. (Due to production shortages, many fleet boats used Mark 10s, also.) Since the Mark 14 suffered from a high failure rate early in the war, this was not necessarily a disadvantage.

Some were transferred to other navies, such as the six transferred to the British Royal Navy. These were mostly used for training in anti-submarine warfare and removed from service by mid-1944.