![]() USS S-39 off Olongapo, Philippine Islands, 1935
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History | |
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Name: | USS S-39 |
Builder: | Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation |
Laid down: | 14 January 1919 |
Launched: | 2 July 1919 |
Commissioned: | 14 September 1923 |
Fate: | Run aground, abandoned, 13 August 1942 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type: | S-class submarine |
Displacement: |
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Length: | |
Beam: | 20 ft 9 in (6.32 m) |
Draft: | 16 in (0.41 m) |
Installed power: |
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Propulsion: |
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Speed: |
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Capacity: | 168 long tons (171 t) diesel fuel |
Complement: | 42 officers and men |
Armament: |
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Service record | |
Operations: | World War II |
Awards: | 2 battle stars |
USS S-39 (SS-144) was a United States Navy S-class submarine that saw combat in the Pacific Theater during World War II. She was accidentally run aground on her fifth wartime patrol and was subsequently abandoned.
Her keel was laid on 14 January 1919 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation, San Francisco, California. She was launched on 2 July 1919 sponsored by Miss Clara M. Huber, and commissioned on 14 September 1923 with Lieutenant John A. Scott (Class of 1918) in command.
After commissioning and fitting out, S-39 joined Submarine Force, Battle Fleet; and from October–December 1923, conducted maneuvers off southern California. With the next year, 1924, she moved south to the Panama Canal, thence proceeded into the Caribbean Sea for final trials, further exercises, and training dives. By April, she was back at Mare Island for her first overhaul.
On 17 September, S-39 departed San Francisco for the Philippines. Steaming via Pearl Harbor and Guam, she reached Manila on 5 November; joined the Asiatic Fleet as a member of Submarine Division 17 (SubDiv 17); and commenced local operations and drills in the Luzon area. In mid-May 1925, she sailed for the Asiatic mainland with her division; and, after brief stops at Amoy and Hong Kong, arrived at Tsingtao, whence she operated until early September. She then returned to Manila and for the next 16 years maintained, with few interruptions, a similar schedule: summers at Tsingtao, with patrols along the China coast; winters in the Philippines, for overhauls, engineering trials, joint Army-Navy maneuvers, type training exercises, and short patrols.