Submarine USS S-11 (SS-116)

Submarine USS S-11 (SS-116) was authorized to be built by the United States Congressional Act of 4 March 1917 which stated in part: "....of the vessels authorized in the 'Act...' approved August twenty-ninth, nineteen hundred and sixteen, the construction of the following vessels shall be begun as soon as practical at a cost exclusive of armor and armament not to exceed the following amounts:...eighteen coast submarines to have a surface displacement of about eight hundred tons each, $1,300,000 each,...."

The keel of USS S-11 (SS-116) was laid down on 2 December 1919 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine.

On Monday, 7 February 1921, the launching of submarine S-11 brought an old friend back to the Portsmouth Navy Yard. Franklin Delano Roosevelt, formerly the Assistant Secretary of the Navy and now a private citizen, appeared with his family. His 15-year-old-daughter, Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, was the sponsor of the S-boat. At noon she christened the submarine with a bottle of sparkling cider, and the submersible slid into the Piscataqua River without a hitch.

A popular but probably apocryphal story about the launching contends that Anna Eleanor Roosevelt missed the actual event because of illness, and that later she posed for a "launching" photograph so that she could dress in all the finery bought for the ceremony...so reported the "Portsmouth Herald" newspaper-edition of 7 February 1921.

Six months after the launching, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was stricken with polio at his Campobello Island summer home in Canada.

However, FDR became the 32nd President of the United States and served in that office from 1933 to 1945...longer than any other United States Chief Executive.

The S-boat was commissioned on 11 January 1923 with Lieutenant Wilder D. Baker in command.

When commissioned, the S-3 Class coastal and harbor defense submarine was 231' in length overall; had an extreme beam of 21'10"; had a normal surface displacement of 876 tons, and, when in that condition, had a mean draft of 13'1". Submerged displacement was 1,092 tons. The submarine was of riveted construction. The designed compliment was four officers and thirty-four enlisted men. The boat could operate safely to depths of 200 feet. The submarine was armed with five 21-inch torpedo tubes: four installed in the bow; one installed in the stern. Fourteen torpedoes were carried. One 4-inch/50 caliber deck gun was installed forward of the conning tower. The full load of diesel oil carried was 36,950 gallons, which fueled two 1,000 designed brake horsepower MAN (Maschinenfabrik-Augsberg-Nurnberg) type diesel engines manufactured by the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York...which could drive the boat, via a direct drive propulsion system, at 15 knots on the surface in relatively calm seas. Power for submerged propulsion was provided by a main storage battery, divided into two sixty-cell batteries, manufactured by the Electric Storage Battery Company (EXIDE) at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...which powered two 600 designed brake horsepower main propulsion motors manufactured by the Westinghouse Electric Company at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...which turned propeller shafts...which turned propellers...which could drive the submarine at 11 knots for a short period of time when operating beneath the surface of the sea. Slower submerged speeds resulted in greater endurances before the batteries needed to be recharged by the engines and generators.

Supplementing duties along the northeast coast of the United States, USS S-11 (SS-116) visited Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 1923...and Saint Thomas in the United States Virgin Islands, Trinidad in the British West Indies, and Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone, in 1924.

Departing the United States Naval Submarine Base at New London/Groton, Connecticut, on 29 September 1924, USS S-11 transited, via the Panama Canal and California, to the Territory of Hawaii...arriving there on 27 April 1925.

On 25 May 1925, USS S-11 departed the Hawaiian Islands and transited back to New London/Groton, Connecticut...where she arrived on 12 July 1925.

USS S-11 operated in waters adjacent to the Panama Canal from January through April of 1926, visited Kingston on the southeast coast of Jamaica from 20 to 28 March of 1927, and served, again, in the Panama Canal Zone operating areas, from February into April of 1928.

From 1929 into 1936, the S-boat operated almost exclusively in the Panama Canal Zone areas, but visited Washington, D. C., from 15 May to 5 June in 1933.

USS S-11 departed Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone on 13 June 1936 and transited to the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania...where she arrived nine days later.

On 30 September 1936, USS S-11 was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and placed in the reserve fleet at that government installation.

With war clouds on the horizon, USS S-11 (SS-116) was recommissioned on 6 September 1940 at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

After voyages from the Connecticut submarine base to Philadelphia, Bermuda, and Saint Thomas in 1941, USS S-11 arrived at the United States Naval Submarine Base at Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone on 5 October 1941.

USS S-11 was one of the units protecting the Panama Canal from October of 1941 into June of 1943...then she operated out of Trinidad into February of 1944.

The United States became an active participant in the Second World War following the Japanese attack on the Hawaiian Islands on 7 December 1941.

Following overhaul in the Panama Canal Zone, USS S-11 transited, during July of 1944, via Aruba, to Trinidad...where she operated into October of that year.

Arriving at Guantanamo Bay on the 26th of October 1944, the submarine served there into January of 1945. After a voyage to the Panama Canal Zone area, she conducted a transit from Panama to the submarine base in Connecticut during the period 8 to 24 February 1945.

On 28 March 1945, USS S-11 (SS-116) arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and commenced preparations for inactivation.

On 2 May 1945, the S-boat was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard and struck from the Navy List.

On 2 September 1945, the Second World War officially ended with the signing of the instruments of surrender by the Japanese on board battleship USS Missouri...which was anchored in Tokyo Bay, Japan, for that occasion.

Submarine S-11 was sold on 28 October 1945 to the Rosoff Brothers of New York City. They resold the submarine to the Northern Metals Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who, subsequently, scrapped the S-boat.

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