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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

S-24 (SS-129)

Radio Call Sign: November - India - November - November
S-24 served both the US and British Navies

S-18 Class Submarine (Holland-type): Laid down, 1 November 1918, at Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corp., Quincy MA.; Launched, 27 June 1922; Commissioned, USS S-24 (SS-129), 24 August 1923; Decommissioned, 10 August 1942; Transferred to the United Kingdom; Commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS P 555; Returned to US Naval custody in the United Kingdom, at the end of World War II; Struck from the Naval Register, (date unknown); Final Disposition, destroyed, 25 August 1947 at Portland Naval Base, United Kingdom.
Partial data submitted by Yves Hubert.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 854 t., Submerged: 1,062 t.; Length 219' 3"; Beam 20' 8"; Draft 15' 11"(mean); Depth Limit 200'; Speed, Surfaced 14.5 kts, Submerged 11 kts; Complement, 4 Officers, 34 Enlisted; Armament, four 21" torpedo tubes, 12 torpedoes, one 4"/50 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel-electric, New London Ship & Engine diesel engines, hp 1200, Fuel Capacity, 41,192 gals.; Ridgeway Dynamo & Electric Co., electric motors, hp 1500, Battery Cells, 120, twin propellers.
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S-24
0812910		60k S-24 (SS-129) was sponsored by Eleanor Cameron Opie, (i.e. Mrs. Herbert B. Loper) wife of then first lieutenant Herbert Bernard Loper; later Major General Loper who helped plan the Mariana and Palau Islands campaign and the Okinawa campaign during World War II. He was chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project from 1952 to 1953, and Chairman of the Military Liaison Committee of the United States Atomic Energy Commission from 1954 to 1961.
Eleanor Cameron Opie's brother was Rear Admiral John Newton Opie III, married Eleanor Bernard Rhea, who is a granddaughter of Major General Fitzhugh Lee. 		Text courtesy of wikipedia.org
Photo courtesy of findagrave.com
SS 129, SS 130 & SS 133 379k Pre commissioning photo showing S-24 (SS-129), S-25 (SS-130) & S-28 (SS-133) at Groton, CT, 4 May 1923. USN photo # 19-N-10271, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
S-18, 22, & 24 60k Pre commissioning photo showing from left to right: S-22 (SS-127), S-24 (SS-129) & S-18 (SS-123) tied up along the dock at Groton, CT., 5 July 1923. USN photo # 19-N-10272, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
Savannah 105k Savannah (AS-8) with five submarines alongside, during the 1920s. S-24 (SS-129) is the inboard submarine on Savannah's port side. Those moored to her starboard side are (from inboard to outboard): S-27 (SS-132), S-20 (SS-125) and S-28 (SS-133). USN photo # NH 72921 from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center, photo donated to the US Naval Historical Center by LT. Gustave Freret, USN (Retired), 1970.
R-6
0812911		1.77k Crew of the S-24 (SS-129) spread out over her territory. Photo courtesy of digitalcommonwealth.org
SS 129 50k S-24 (SS-129) in heavy seas. Location unknown, circa 1920's. Courtesy of Ric Hedman.
SS 138 900k I included the original Mare Island Public Works photo (above) which show waterfront paving work at the yard on 25 June 1925 and a cropped view of the S class submarine on the far left of the photo.
"Prison labor" means that the prisoners from Mare Island Naval Brig were doing the work, another story of the yard not often told.
Shipyard journals of the period indicate that the submarine in the foreground is S-33 (SS-138) and she was in overhaul at the yard from 1 September 1924 until 3 October 1925. You will note the temporary access patch over her engine room. The six boats in the background are S-24 (SS-129), S-25 (SS-130), S-26 (SS-131), S-27 (SS-132), & S-28 (SS-133) & S-29 (SS-134), all arrived at the yard on 24 June 1925 along with Savannah (AS-8). It appears the photo was taken from the stern of the Savannah. 		Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum photo courtesy of Darryl L. Baker.
S-24
0812912		NR Down for the Week-End
MAYORESS Bertha Ethel Knight Landes, of Seattle, took a ride in the submarine S-24 (SS-129), during the visit of the fleet to Puget Sound. Capt. H. I. Nelson assisted her down the hatch. 		Image and text provided by Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
Photo from The Washington Times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 18 August 1926, Image 3, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
S-9 731k All the boats in the image are S-boats.
On the left is the S-9 (SS-114). The next is probably S-24 (SS-129). All of the rest are 20 series boats. The boat in the background IS NOT the S-2 (SS-106). It is a 20 series like the others. The last digit in the boat's name is obscured by the torpedo davit on the boat in the middle.
As for a location, the pier in the background looks like some images I have seen of San Pedro, California. Although the fact that this came from the New York Daily News Archive seems to indicate the Brooklyn Navy Yard or some location in the city.
I can't see the stern of any of the boats. This helps in dating the photo. It appears that the aft skeg of the S-24 is still in place and there are no post S-4 (SS-109) safety modifications so this would indicate that the photo was taken in the mid to late 1920's, but this is only a rough guess. 		Photo & text i.d. courtesy of David Johnston
Photo by NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images, courtesy of gettyimages.com.
SS 129 83k S-24 (SS-129) entering Pearl Harbor, circa late 1920's. USN photo # 19-N-17947, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
SS 129 58k S-24 (SS-129) entering Pearl Harbor, circa 1929. USN photo by Tai Sing Loo courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
SS 129 288k The crew of the S-24 (SS-129) . Carson Martin is in the third row back and counting from the left, he is 5th (this is not counting the one guy that is behind that row on his own). Photo courtesy of Meryl Kretschmann, daughter of Carson Martin, K.I.A. aboard the Grunion (SS-216), 30 July 1942.
SS 129 432k S-24 (SS-129) is homeward bound! Photo courtesy of Tommy Trampp.
Saunders 1.95k S-24's (SS-129) CO from May 1940 to March 1941 was Lt. Comdr. Willard A. Saunders.
He appears here in the center of this photo showing officers of the Muskallunge (SS-262) during her commissioning, on 15 March 1943. 		Official USN photo courtesy of George & Linda Salava.
This photo was from the collection of FC3 Frank Salava who was K.I.A. when the Sculpin (SS-191) was sunk & 62 other crewmen were K.I.A. on 19 November 1943.
SS 129 381k S-24 (SS-129) moored at the New London submarine base in 1940 on the occasion of the visit of President Franklin D. Roosevelt to view the defenses in New England. At this time, the President visited Boston Navy yard and the Submarine base in New London. Source: Life Magazine Archives. Thomas Macvoy photographer, shared by Peter DeForest via Mike Green.
SS 129 56k Lieutenant Commander Charles Herbert Andrews graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1930 and then attended Submarine School at New London, Connecticut. He commanded the S-24 (SS-129) in 1941 prior to his assignment to the Gurnard (SS-254). He was the second to the last C.O. before she was decommissioned in 1942.
During World War II he was the Captain of the submarine Gurnard from 18 September 1942 to September 1944. On six war patrols he and his crew sunk 11 ships for a total of 71,500 tons. He was awarded two Navy Crosses for his second and fifth war patrols and two Silver Stars. He was placed on the Roll of Honor at the Submarine Base, Pearl Harbor. Prior to his retirement from the Navy he was promoted to Rear Admiral. 		USN photo courtesy of Bill Gonyo.
HMS P 555
SS 129 290k Undated wartime pic of HMS P555 ex-S-24 (SS-129) underway, location unknown. Photo taken by an unknown Royal Navy official photographer. Photo # FL 5803 from the collections of the Imperial War Museums via Robert Hurst.
SS 129 109k Undated wartime pic of HMS P555 ex-S-24 (SS-129) underway in harbour, location unknown. Photo and text from "Royal Navy Submarines: 1901 to the Present Day" by Maurice Cocker & submitted by Robert Hurst.
View the S-24 (SS-129)
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