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N7KTP > NAVNET 01.12.04 19:49l 47 Lines 2299 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 29103_N7FSP
Read: DG8DG GUEST
Subj: SUBMARINE S-6 (SS-111)
Path: DB0FHN<DB0NOE<DB0FSG<I4UKI<IK5CKL<IW2OAZ<IK6IHL<I0TVL<HG8LXL<7M3TJZ<
N7FSP
Sent: 041131/2211z @:N7FSP.#SEA.#WWA.WA.USA.NOAM West Seattle, WA. on 145.010
8-6 one of the early submarines to make record 1ong cruise
By FRED MILES WATSON - Managing Editor - Northwest Navigator
The submarine S-6 (SS-111) was built at Portsmouth N.H., Navy Yard
and was commissioned on May 17, 1920 with Lt. Cmdr. George Junkin as
its first commanding officer.
Displacing 1,092-tons submerged S-6 was 231-feet in length and had
a draft of 13 feet, one-inch. Top speed submerged was 11 knots and 38
men served in S-6. The S-3 class boat was outfitted with one, 4-inch
topside gunmount and four, 21inch torpedo tubes.
Following trials and outfitting, S-6 departed New London, Com, on
Nov. 18, 1920 to join other "S" boats of Submarine Divisions 12 and 18
for what was to be, at that time, the longest cruise for American
submarines on record.
The trip, begun with a rendezvous off Portsmouth,N. H., took them
through the Panama Canal, to Pearl Harbor and then to Cavite, Luzon in
the Philippine Islands.
Other submarines had operated out of Cavite prior to this but had
been transported there on the decks of colliers. The two submarine
divisions operated from Cavite for the next three years, from the date
of their arrival on Dec. 1, 1921 until Oct. 29, 1924. During that time,
they frequently visited Chinese ports at Shanghai, Chefoo, Chinwangtao,
Tsingtao, Amoy, and Woosung.
On Dec. 30, 1924, S-6 and her division Submarine Division 12
arrived at Mare Island, Calif. They later operated along the West Coast
until Feb. 15, 1927 and in the Panama Canal area during March and
April. They returned to New London on May 3, to operate along the New
England coast On Dec. 17, submarine S-4, a unit of Submarine Division
12, sank after colliding with the Coast Guard cutter USCGC Paulding
(CG-17) off Provincetown, Mass.
Because of that accident, S-6 was tasked as serving as a training
mode to familiarize divers preparing to raise the sunken sub. S-4 was
raised on March 17,1928 and S-6 resumed normal operations with her
division. She conducted winter maneuvers in the Panama Canal area in
1929 and 1930, but primarily operated out of New London until she was
decommissioned on April 10, 1931, at Philadelphia. She was struck from
the Navy list on Jan. 25, 1937 and sold for scrapping the same day.
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