USS O-13
USS O-13
Main page
2066675

USS O-13

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
USS O-13

USS O-13 (SS-74), also known as "Submarine No. 74", was one of 16 O-class submarines of the United States Navy commissioned after the end of World War I.

The later O-boats, O-11 through O-16, were designed by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, to different specifications from the earlier boats designed by Electric Boat. They did not perform as well, and are sometimes considered a separate class. The submarines had a length of 175 ft (53.3 m) overall, a beam of 16 ft 7 in (5.1 m), and a mean draft of 13 ft 11 in (4.2 m). They displaced 485 long tons (493 t) on the surface and 566 long tons (575 t) submerged. The O-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 27 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of 200 ft (61.0 m).

For surface running, the boats were powered by two 500-brake-horsepower (373 kW) Busch-Sulzer diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 370-horsepower (276 kW) Diehl Manufacture Company electric motor. They could reach 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) on the surface and 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph) underwater. On the surface, the O class had a range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 11.5 kn (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph).

The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The O-class submarines were also armed with a single 3 in (76 mm)/23 caliber retractable deck gun.

O-13's keel was laid down on 6 March 1916, by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was launched 27 December 1917, sponsored by Miss Margaret Arletta Adams, and commissioned at the New York Navy Yard, on 27 November 1918.

While conducting submerged trials in Long Island Sound, on 5 October 1918, prior to her commissioning, O-13 rammed Mary Alice, the section patrol boat that was accompanying her during a submerged circular run off Bridgeport, Connecticut, holing Mary Alice amidships. Although Mary Alice sank within minutes, O-13 rescued her entire crew.

O-13 operated along the coast of New Jersey and New York, until 8 October 1919, when she arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, for a five-month overhaul. After returning to Cape May, New Jersey, on 8 March 1920, she departed on 1 April, for duty in the Caribbean Sea. Steaming via Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba, she arrived Coco Solo, in the Panama Canal Zone, on 30 April.

When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-74.

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.