Submarine USS S-51 (SS-162)

USS S-51 (SS-162) was laid down on 22 December 1919 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company at Bridgeport, Connecticut. Mrs. R. J. Mills christened the submarine...which was launched on 20 August 1921. The submarine was commissioned on 24 June 1922 with Lieutenant W. S. Haas in command.

When commissioned, the S-48 Class submarine was 240' in length overall; had an extreme beam of 21'10"; had a normal surface displacement of 903 tons, and, when on the surface in that condition, had a mean draft of 13'6". The submarine displaced 1,230 tons when submerged. The designed compliment was 4 officers and 34 enlisted men. The S-boat was equipped with two periscopes. She had a double hull in the center portion of the boat; a single hull at each end of the ship. This S-boat could completely submerge in one minute to periscope depth. Maximum operating (test) depth was 200'. The submarine was armed with five 21-inch torpedo tubes (four in the bow and one in the stern). Fourteen torpedoes were carried. One 4-inch/50-caliber gun was mounted on the main deck...forward of the conning tower fairwater. Stowage was provided for 44,350 gallons of diesel oil...by utilizing some of the ballast tanks as fuel oil tanks. This gave the boat a maximum operating radius of 8,000 miles at ten knots when transiting on the surface. The normal fuel oil load was 23,411 gallons. Two 6-M-85 six-cylinder 900 brake horsepower (at 410 rotations per minute) diesel engines, that had a total output of 1,800 horsepower, that were made by the Busch-Sulzer Brothers Diesel Engine Company at Saint Louis, Missouri, could drive the boat at 14.4 knots when operating on the surface. Submerged propulsion electrical power was provided by the 120 cell main storage battery...which was manufactured by the Gould Storage Battery Company at Trenton ("Trenton makes, the world takes"), New Jersey, which powered two 750 B.H.P. electric motors, with a total output of 1,500 designed brake horsepower, that were manufactured by the Ridgway Dynamo and Electric Company at Ridgway, Pennsylvania... which turned propeller shafts...which turned propellers...which drove the submarine at 11 knots, for a short period of time, when submerged. This submarine was one of four "4th Group" S-boats constructed. The 4th Group S-boats were the largest of the fifty-one S-boats contracted to be built for the United States Navy. These S-boats had six water- tight compartments to enhance internal integrity.

USS S-51 (SS-162) was based at the United States Naval Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut, on the east bank of the Thames River, on 1 July 1922, as a unit of Submarine Division Four and followed a normal peacetime training cycle operating out of her home port with visits to Newport and Providence, Rhode Island.

She departed from New York on 4 January 1924 for the Canal Zone to participate in winter fleet maneuvers off Panama and in the Caribbean. During this cruise, she visited Trinidad; Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; Culebra, Puerto Rico; and Saint Thomas in the Virgin Islands. After returning to New York on 30 April, she resumed type training off Block Island and in other New England coastal waters.

On the night of 25 September 1925, USS S-51 was rammed and sunk off Block Island, Rhode Island, by the merchant steamer "City of Rome." Only three survivors of the 35 men on board the ill-fated submarine were subsequently recovered from the water.

USS S-51 was raised on 5 June 1926; towed to the New York Navy Yard (the Brooklyn Navy Yard); struck from the Navy List on 27 January 1930; and sold for scrap on 23 June 1930 to the Borough Metal Company at Brooklyn, New York.

The following Navymen were lost in the sinking of USS S-51:

Engineman First Class Paul Berk

Gunner's Mate Seaman Ralph Edward Cassidy

Radioman First Class H.L. Crawford

Lieutenant Rodney H. Dobson

Engineman First Class Allen Clifford Earle

Ensign E.W. Egbert

Coxswain Hender D. Elser

Motor Machinist Mate First Class Rudy Firm

Lieutenant Junior Grade F.D. Foster

Engineman First Class John L. Gibson

Lieutenant Junior Grade T.R. Glasscock

Torpedoman's Mate Chief Valentine Hiltbord

Motor Machinist Mate Chief Franklin P. James

Electrician's Mate First Class Walter Edwards Lawton

Engineman Second Class Brady Lindsay

Signalman Third Class G.H. Martin

Fireman Oscar Joseph Milot

Seaman Frank Lester Mims

Seaman J.J. McCarthy

Motor Machinist Mate Third Class R.S. Noble

Lieutenant Junior Grade Harlow M. Pino

Radioman First Class J. M. Schofield

Electrician's Mate First Class Frank Archibald Shea

Motor Machinist Mate First Class J.J. Shehan

Torpedoman's Mate Third Class Augustus Alexander Smith

Signalman Chief Herbert Eadelman Snyder

Seaman Frederick Peter Teschemacher

Seaman William Charles Teschemacher

Fireman Apprentice Charles Carroll Thomas

Torpedoman's Mate Third Class Steven Hartley Triffitt

Torpedoman's Mate First Class Robert Holland Weeks

Torpedoman's Mate Third Class Frank Collins Wiseman

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