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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

S-11 (SS-116)

Radio Call Sign: November - India - Mike - Tango
S-3 Class Submarine (Government-type): Laid down, 2 December 1919, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME; Launched, 7 February 1921; Commissioned, USS S-11 (SS-116), 11 February 1923; Decommissioned, 30 September 1936; Recommissioned, 6 September 1940, at Philadelphia; Decommissioned, 2 May 1945, at Philadelphia; Struck from the Naval Register, 19 May 1945, and sold 28 October 1945, to Rosoff Bros., New York, NY; Final Disposition, resold to Northern Metals, Co., Philadelphia, PA., for scrapping.
Partial data submitted by Yves Hubert.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 876 t., Submerged: 1092 t; Length 231'; Beam 21' 10"; Draft 13' 1"; Speed, surfaced 15 kts, submerged 11 kts; Depth Limit 200'; Complement 4 Officers, 34 Enlisted; Armament, five 21" torpedo tubes, 14 torpedoes, one 4"/50 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel electric engines, Maschinfabrik - Augsburg - Nurnburg, New York Navy Yard diesel engines, 2,000 hp, Fuel Capacity, 36,950 gal.; Westinghouse Electric Co., electric motors, 1,200 hp, Battery Cells, 120, twin propellers.
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S-11 967k 5 photo PDF of the S-11 (SS-116) showing Outboard & Inboard Profiles, Superstructure Deck, Main Deck & Sections.
She was one of four government S-boats S-10-13 (SS-115-18), redesigned by Portsmouth Navy Yard to carry a torpedo tube aft. Structural detail has been included in this drawing to suggest the complexity of the C & R design, which made it extremely difficult to maintain. The V-1-class (SS-163-65) had similar complex structures.		 Drawing & Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
National Archives Identifier: 70646184
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
S-10 & 11 210k Launching of the S-10 (SS-115) at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Portsmouth, N.H., 9 December 1920. Note the partially built bow of the S-11 (SS-116) to her right. USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
G-487kNewest Addition to Uncle Sam's Navy
The S-11 (SS-116) ready to leave the ways.
The latest addition to the fleet of United States submarines was launched recently at Portsmouth, N. H., recently. A daughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt, assistant secretary of the navy, christened the big submersible.		Image and text provided by Indiana State Library.
Photo from the The Richmond Palladium And Sun-Telegram. (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1 March 1921, Image 1 via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
SS 116 129k The Silver Plated Launch Presentation Bottle used by Sponsor Miss Anna Eleanor Roosevelt to launch the S-11 (SS-116) at Navy Yard Portsmouth N.H., February 1921. Photo courtesy of liveauctioneers.com.
SS 116 858k The S-11 (SS-116) at Navy Yard. Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection via Sean Hert & flickr.com.
SS 116 770k The S-11 (SS-116) at Navy Yard.
Note the improvised sails on deck.		 Photo courtesy of the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection via Sean Hert & flickr.com.
S-9 1.10k Underway, circa the 1920s. USNHC photograph # NH 41526, courtesy of Robert Hurst.
S-10 - 13 61k Bushnell (AS-2) at Gonaives, Haiti, circa 1924 tending her charges: S-11 (SS-116), S-12 (SS-117), S-10 (SS-115) & and S-13 (SS-118). USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
S-11 88k S-11 (SS-116) at the Virgin Islands for President Wilson's funeral. From the Frederick Wood Collection. USN photo courtesy of Stan Svec.
S-11 110k S-11 (SS-116) taking a towline off the West Indies, probably early 1920s. USN photo courtesy of Dave Wright.
US Fleet Problem Number VI 1.72k Control Force Employment Schedule, 4 January to 1 March 1926. US Fleet Problem Number VI. Photo courtesy of Steve Ireland.
Murphy 118k Vice Admiral Vincent Raphael Murphy served aboard the submarines S-37 (SS-142) from 1924 to 1927; S-11 (SS-116) from 1929 to 1932 and the Texas (BB-35) from 1935 to 1937. The picture was taken when he was the commanding officer of the battleship Alabama (BB-60) in 1944. Photo from the War Diary USS Alabama 1942 - 1944 courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
SS 116 51k S-11 (SS-116), September 1935, in the Panama Canal Zone. USN photo. Text contributed from "U.S. Warships of World War II" by P. Silverstone, courtesy of Aryeh Wetherhorn.
SS 116 765k Meet the STERN family: S-12 (SS-117), S-11 (SS-116), S-13 (SS-118), S-10 (SS-115) and S-48 (SS-159) pose for a back of the front shot, sometime circa before 20 March 1935, when the S-48 left. The location is Coco Solo, Panama.
One other clue as to the date of the photo is the fact that all the boats are still painted haze gray. There was a date in the mid 30's when the Navy shifted over to basic black for all the boats. I am thinking that this photo was taken just before that date. The boats on the left have all been modified with the safety updates, i.e marker buoys and hatches capable of taking a McCann Rescue Chamber, but they are still all gray. 		Photo courtesy of Kevin Welch.
Photo i.d. & text courtesy of Ric Hedman & David Johnston.
S-11 769k S-11 (SS-116) at submarine base Coco Solo, Canal Zone, 4 October 1935. USN photo # 80-G-466177, from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
S-11, 12 & 13 89k Submarines S-12 (SS-117), S-11 (SS-116) and S-13 (SS-118) out of commission in Navy Yard, 30 June 1936. Photo by Philadelphia Evening Bulletin courtesy of digital.library.temple.edu.
S-10 67k These O type and S type submarines which were used during the World War have since been decommissioned and are now laid up in the Phila. Navy Yard. The peaceful surroundings are quite a contrast to those of their active war days. They are pictured here on 17 July 1936.
The S-10 (SS-115) was decommissioned on the day this photo was taken at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA. and laid up in the Reserve Fleet.
Pictured also are any of the following boats that were at the PNY during this time.
The O boats: O-1 (SS-62), O-2 (SS-63), O-3 (SS-64), O-6 (SS-67), O-7 (SS-68), O-8 (SS-69), O-9 (SS-70), O-10 (SS-71).
The S boats: S-6 (SS-111), S-7 (SS-112), S-8 (SS-113), S-9 (SS-114), S-11 (SS-116), S-12 (SS-117), S-13 (SS-118), S-14 (SS-119), S-15 (SS-120), S-16 (SS-121), S-17 (SS-122) & S-48 (SS-159). 		Photo & text courtesy of A.P. Wire courtesy of philly.com.
Philadelphia Navy Yard 2.49k Philadelphia Navy Yard, 28 October 1940.
The photo presented panorama military shipyards in Philadelphia Navy Yard. Most of the ships are obsolete US destroyers, that were transfer to Great Britain under lend lease.
The submarines are on the left hand side of the photo, and they are: (in no particular order)
The O boats:O-1 (SS-62), O-2 (SS-63), O-3 (SS-64), O-6 (SS-67), O-7 (SS-68), O-8 (SS-69), O-9 (SS-70), O-10 (SS-71).
The R boats: R-1 (SS-78), R-2 (SS-79), R-3 (SS-80), R-5 (SS-82), R-6 (SS-83), R-7 (SS-84), R-8 (SS-85), R-9 (SS-86), R-10 (SS-87), R-12 (SS-89), R-15 (SS-92), R-16 (SS-93), R-17 (SS-94), R-18 (SS-95), R-19 (SS-96) & R-20 (SS-97).
The S boats: S-11 (SS-116), S-12 (SS-117), S-13 (SS-118), S-14 (SS-119), S-15 (SS-120), S-16 (SS-121), S-17 (SS-122) & S-48 (SS-159) .
The Olympia (C-6) is shown at the right of the wharf on Broad Street.
The stadium in the upper left, was John F. Kennedy Stadium (formally Philadelphia Municipal Stadium) that stood from 1926 to 1992. It was erected for the 1926 Sesquicentennial. 		Photo i.d. courtesy of Ron Reeves (of blessed memory).
Photo courtesy of flickr.com.
Lower resolution photo. (548k)
Who Am I 878k Submarine maneuvers for pilot instruction. Submarine crusing, 24 July 1942.
This boat is a Government design S-boat. She is too long forward of the fairwater to be an EB design and the fairwater matches that of the Government boats. It could be any boat between S-11 (SS-116) and S-17 (SS-122) (those were the Government boats that served through WWII). It is not the S-48 (SS-159) as she had been extensively modified and did not look like this boat. 		Photo & text i.d. courtesy of David Johnston (USN, retired)
USN photo # 80-G-1626 from National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Smith
0836437		568kPhoto of Capt. Frank M. Smith taken in May 1962. He was the 10th CO of the boat, from 26 February 1943 to 31 July 1944. Image and text courtesy of Darryl L. Baker & Wolfgang Hechler.
View the S-11 (SS-116)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
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