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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

S-5 (SS-110)

Radio Call Sign: November - India - Mike - Mike

S-4 Class Submarine (Government-type): Laid down, 4 December 1917, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, on Seavey Island in Kittery, Maine. Launched, 10 November 1919; Commissioned, USS S-5, 6 March 1920; Redesignated USS S-5 (SS-110), 17 July 1920; Sunk by accidental intake of water through the Main Induction Value, 1 September 1920: Struck from the Naval Register in 1921.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 876 t., Submerged: 1092 t..; Length 231'; Beam 21' 10"; Draft 13' 1"; Speed, surfaced 15 kts, submerged 11 kts; Depth Limit 200'; Complement 4 Officers, 34 Enlisted; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 4"/50 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel electric engines, New London Ship and Engine Co. diesel engines, 2,000 hp, Fuel Capacity, 36,950 gal.; Westinghouse Electric Co., electric motors, 1,200 hp, Battery Cells, 120, twin propellers.
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S-5 119k Keel laying of the S-5 (SS-110) at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 4 December 1917. USNHC photograph # NH 46542.
S-5 120k S-5 (SS-110), being prepared for launching from a covered building way at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 10 November 1919. Collection of the Society of Sponsors of the U.S. Navy. USNHC photograph # NH 102805.
S-5 154k S-5 (SS-110) afloat immediately after launching, at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine, 10 November 1919. Text Collection of the Society of Sponsors of the U.S. Navy. USNHC photograph # NH 102806.
Photo from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
S-5 50k S-5 (SS-110) taken in 1919, probably off the Portsmouth (N.H.) Navy Yard. USNI photo.
S-5 207k S-5 (SS-110) underway, 1920.USNHC photograph courtesy of Robert Hurst.
S-5 20k Schematic diagram of the submarine S-5 (SS-110), circa 1920.USNHC photograph courtesy of Robert Hurst.
S-5 48k Stern of the S-5 (SS-110) showing above the water, a few days after she accidentally sank off Delaware Bay on 1 September 1920. Photographed from McDougal (DD-54), which took some of S-5's crew back to New York. Donation of Ensign E.N. Cohen, USNR, 1964. USNHC photograph # NH 41810.
S-5 53k Stern of the S-5 (SS-110) showing above the water on 2 September 1920, the day after she accidentally sank off Delaware Bay. The steamship Alanthus is standing by. USNHC photograph # NH 57595.
S-5 58k Steamship Alanthus standing by the S-5's (SS-110) stern on 2 September 1920, the day after she accidentally sank off Delaware Bay. Photographed from McDougal (DD-54). Donation of Ensign E.N. Cohen, USNR, 1964. USNHC photograph # NH 57596.
S-5 NR PLEASE IGNORE THE FOLLOWING CAPTION & STORY
SIREN BUOY SAVES 37 U.S. SAILORS
The siren buoy, a war time invention, was the principle cause of rescue for the 37 officers and men of the S-5 (SS-110) when the submarine sank off the Delaware capes Wednesday morning. The photograph shows the S-5 with an arrow pointing to the spot in the bow where the buoy is kept to be released in case of accident while the craft is submerged. A continuous siren gives warning and is operated from the ship in the Morse code to spell out messages from those imprisoned in the ship.
PLEASE READ THIS INSTEAD
The S-5 did not carry any sort of releasable buoy at the time of her loss. These types of rescue buoys did not come along in the USN until after the loss of the S-4 (SS-109) in 1927. The S-5 did carry a Fessenden Oscillator, a primitive sonar device that could be used to send Morse Code signals underwater, but it was fixed in place near the keel and indeed there is no report that it was used at all during the disaster. The "siren buoy" was NOT the principle cause of the crew's rescue. The crew raising the stern above the water and cutting a hole through the pressure hull was why they were saved. How the reporter got it so wrong is a complete mystery. Short of completely making it up he couldn't have gotten it more wrong if he tried.		 Text I.d. courtesy of David Johnston.
Image provided by: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA.
Photo from Evening Public Ledger. (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 03 September 1920, NIGHT EXTRA, Image 1 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 NR Only Three Miles Made Toward Shore After Hours of Work by Battleship. Image provided by: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA.
Photo from Evening Public Ledger. (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 04 September 1920, NIGHT EXTRA, Image 1 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 NR SCENE OF RESCUE OF WRECKED SUBMARINE CREW
Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo from Evening Star. [volume], 1854-1972, 04 September 1920, Image 2 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 NR COOKE DESCRIBES CREW'S AGONY ON TRAPPED S-5 (SS-110). Image provided by: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA.
Photo from Evening Public Ledger. (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 06 September 1920, NIGHT EXTRA, Image 1 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 NR Rescued crew members of the submarine S-5 (SS-110). This photograph was taken on board the S.S. Alanthus by Frank Pendlo, of Baltimore, a member of the submarine crew, just after the men were rescued. Image provided by: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA.
Photo from Evening Public Ledger. (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 06 September 1920, NIGHT EXTRA, Image 20 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 240k Survivors of the S-5 (SS-110), the Navy's newest and most modern submarine, which sank along the East Coast on its way to Baltimore for a recruiting appearance. A faulty main valve allowed tons of seawater into the submarine during a crash test dive, resulting in the submarine sinking 180 feet to the ocean floor. Photo by Getty Images, courtesy of gettyimages.com.
S-5 69k Navy tug alongside the partially sunken S-5's (SS-110) stern, while initial salvage operations were underway, in early September 1920. The battleship Ohio (BB-12), which attempted to tow S-5 into shallower water, is in the background. Donation of Ellis J. Altman, 1938. USNHC photograph # NH 41808.
S-5 NR HEROES ALL!
A flashlight of the thirty-six members of the crew of the ill-fated U. S. submarine S-5 (SS-110) on the deck of the destroyer that brought them to League Island Navy Yard after their miraculous rescue from the bottom of the Atlantic where for forty-two hours they had battled for air. Above, left, W. R. Grace, chief engineer of the rescue ship Goethals, who worked for six hours with a hand drill cutting out a circular piece of steel in the sub's hull that would permit the entombed men to escape. His hands were practically paralyzed when the heroic task was finally completed. 		Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo from New-York Tribune. (New York[N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 12 September 1920, Image 48 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 NR 37 Lives Saved By Intrepid Pair
Chief Engineer W. R. Grace, of Jersey City, (right) and Capt. E. O. Swinson, of the United States Transport General Goethals , who directed the work by which the crew of the sunken submarine S-5 (SS-110) were saved from apparently certain death..... 		Image and text provided by Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ.
Photo from Arizona Republican.(Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 24 September 1920, Image 1 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 NR ALL IN DAY'S WORK,"SAYS HERO OF SUBMARINE S-5 (SS-110) RESCUE
Chief Engineer W. R. Grace, of the steamship General Goethals, which relieved the Altanthus and cut through the side of the S-5 to give the trapped crew oxygen and finally release. Top picture shows the ill-fated submarine, inset is that of Chief Engineer Grace, and lower picture shows the steamer Altanthus holding up the submarine while the General Goethals steamed to the scene. 		Image and text provided by Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ.& University of New Mexico.
Photo from Arizona Republican.(Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 01 October 1920, Image 10 & Insert photo from Albuquerque Morning Journal. (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 18 September 1920, CITY EDITION, Image 5 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-5 27k Commemorative photo in memory of the S-5 (SS-110). Photo courtesy of Tom Kermen.
S-5 56k The S-5 (SS-110) as it appeared in the first sighting from the NOAA Ship Whiting. Courtesy of oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.
S-5 123k Wreck of the S-5 (SS-110), 40 miles off the Delaware coast. Imaged July 2001. Special Thanks to the Crew of the NOAA Ship Whiting, courtesy of 3klein.com.
SS 110 108k Memorial marker honoring the F-1 (SS-20), F-4 (SS-23), H-1 (SS-28), S-5 (SS-110), O-5 (SS-66), S-51 (SS-162), S-4 (SS-109), & Squalus (SS-192). Photo courtesy of Larry Backus from the Idaho submarine veterans of WW II & submitted by Fred Willshaw.
View the S-5 (SS-110)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable to this Vessel
Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
PigBoats.COM TM A Historic Look at Submarines
The Search for the S-5
njscuba.net
Under Pressure: The Final Voyage of Submarine S-5, by A. J. Hill

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