USS L-1 (and L-2 to L-4 & L-9 to L-11

[Albacore 569]

Before AL enhancement and after. Fall 1918 Bantry Bay, Ireland. SubDiv 5 USS Bushnell (AS-2) Tender. Also, present USS Nevada and USS Utah. Paint supplies were limited, so the Battleships got priority

[Albacore 569]

More L-boats. USS Bushnell AS 2 carried a large salvage hoist in her bow stem, being used to lft AL-2 and perform maintenance on her bow tubes. The L-class were the first American submarines to employ bow shutters. allowing a full 4 tube salvo for the first time. USS Bushnell would serve in both world wars, As USS Bushnell ASS -2 would be replaced by a new more modern (less attractive but highly more capable) USS Bushnell AS-15 in 1940, She would be renamed in 1940 USS Sumner, AG-32 (Miscellaneous Auxiliary), then later as AGS-5 (Survey Ship) on 1 December 1943. Scraped 1947.

[Das Boot]

I don’t recall any World War I submarines on display. Am I wrong, or do you know of any? If not, that’s unfortunate.

[jphatton]

I don’t recall any World War I submarines on display. Am I wrong, or do you know of any? If not, that’s unfortunate.

The is at least one submarine from WW I that I'm aware of that is preserved - SM U-1 in the Deutsch Museum, served through the entire war as a training boat.

Also there is the conning tower and periscope from U-20 on display in the Jutland Sea War Museum in Denmark. U-20 was the submarine which torpedoed the RMS Lusitania. More details on the museum website.

https://www.seawarmuseum.dk/en/News-from-the-museum

[Das Boot]

Very informative and interesting. With the invention of side scan sonar, years ago, I wish they could find the lost fishing boat Andrea Gail.

[Albacore 569]

The American 5 submarine division exploits based at Berehaven, Ireland operationally is best described in chapter 8 of Norman Friedmans Book with illustrations by Jim Christley - 'U.S. Submarines through 1945. Naval Institute Press.

It describes concisely the ASW campaign, and the huge learning curve the USN gained from the British Royal Navy. Even down to delegation of crewman in operating and diving a submarine.

Sub vs sub patrols off Ireland was only a very small part of the overall WW1 sub war, But because of the fear it caused the Germans not knowing of you were in the sights of a Allied submarine, it greatly hampered their progress, post war had slowed advances of U-boats dropped significantly from 200 miles a day down to just 5 miles.

The USN before entering the war used a 'diving officer expert' lol, the British taught the Americans that had really introduced the modern submarine with USS Holland dividing the controls to a bow planes man and a stern planes man. Even the old model A ford klaxon incorporated with he familiar auuuggga! .The horn was added so the entire crew could hear and immediately perform their individual closing main inductions, and vents. The attack teacher using a periscope and models, the Perisher school. Rapid introduction of housing periscopes.

The Americans had none of these before 1917. The Americans Friedman wrote were highly capable and competent seaman but so much had changed in 3 years sine 1914. However, the Americans the British discovered in patrols with officer exchanges from both Navy's learned the American hydrophone arrays where impressively superior to the British or the French. Target bearings of targets detected underwater where within 1 degree of bearing.

All 7 boats in the division stalked and fired torpedoes at U-boats, all missed. Some coming very close. Al-2 was credited with sinking UB-65, but it was a German pre mature exploding 200 short of the American boat. Radio direction-finding and British intel eventually credited the boat and the courage of Capt Paul F Foster, intending to ram to e U-boat underwater. That didn't happen either. UB-65 was found miles away years later lost of Fasnett Light. Good Press, but AL-2 never sank any U-boat. All 7 AL-boats had at least 2 friendly fire incidents each. Any submarine was considered pirates below the standards of civilized warfare and shot first and asked later. One AL skipper was fired at with five rounds from an American patrolling destroyer, after the signals smoke pots and flags where finally recognized, the vessels exchanged words over the megaphone cones, each skipper discovering they each almost committed fratricide of their former US Naval Academy room mate.

AL-4 exceeded in one diving accident due to a new inexperienced crewman only been on board for 3 days, struct the soft bottom at 284 feet greatly exceeding well below test depth. they surfaced after 70 minutes stuck on the bottom, shifting the crew aft. Stern glands leaked around the shafts and came within 4 inches flooding the batteries. The CO of AL-4 was impressed how well she withstood the pressures, the battery and ballast tank bulkheads. Surely some of the first of many follow on praises in history for the Electric Boat Co.

Sub vs sub patrols off Ireland was only a very small part of the overall WW1 sub war, But because of the fear it caused the Germans not knowing of you were in the sights of a Allied submarine, it greatly hampered their progress, post war had slowed advances of U-boats dropped significantly from 200 miles a day down to just 5 miles.

Fascinating read and re read.

The USN sank the Japanese merchant marine and a significant portion of the Japanese Navy in WW2 from what the USN learned from the British in World war 1 (called the great war before we needed to add numbers).