World War I Submarines of San Pedro
During World War I, the Submarine Base at San Pedro became was a vital location for submarines transiting to the war zone. The base was used primarily as a supply station and training facility.
In the meantime, on June 24, 1918, (by Navy Department's orders dated June 12, 1918) the Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet was ordered virtually abolished pending further instructions. Commander Poundstone was relieved as Commanding Officer of the Submarine Base, San Pedro, and was ordered to perform such duties under the jurisdiction of Commander, Division Two, Pacific Fleet, as the Senior Officer Present Afloat, in the Pacific.
The submarines O-14 (SS-75), O-15 (SS-76) and O-16 (SS-77), built by the California Ship Building Company in Long Beach, were taken over during April and May, 1918, to the Submarine Base, and prepared for towing to the Mare Island Navy Yard, there to be completed by the Government. When readied, the O-15 departed with the tender UNALGA, followed by the O-16 and O-14 which were accompanied to the Mare Island Navy Yard by the Tug TILLAMOOK.
Between the months of August and November, 1918, several submarines of the R-class [consisting of R-15 (SS-91), R-16 (SS-92), R-17 (SS-93), R-18 (SS-94), R-19 (SS-95) and R-20 (SS-96)], built at Union Iron Works, in San Francisco, and the submarine O-2 (SS-63), began operating out of the San Pedro Submarine Base for trial, testing and training work on local ranges, prior to dispatch south. The submarines O-14, O-15, and O-16, previously mentioned, similarly returned to San Pedro from the Mare Island Yard to prepare for service in the War Zone as well.
From 1919 to 1940 several ships of the Pacific Battle Fleet were home based in San Pedro. Among these were the Battleships WYOMING (BB-32), USS ARKANSAS (BB-33), NEW YORK (BB-34), TEXAS (BB-35), NEVADA (BB-36), OKLAHOMA (BB-37), PENNSYLVANIA (BB-38), ARIZONA (BB-39), NEW MEXICO (BB-40), MISSISSIPPI (BB-41), IDAHO (BB-42), TENNESSEE (BB-43), CALIFORNIA (BB-44), COLORADO (BB-45), MARYLAND (BB-46) and WEST VIRGINIA (BB-48); Aircraft Carriers SARATOGA and LEXINGTON; Repair Ships ARGONNE, MEDUSA and VESTAL; and Hospital Ships MERCY and RELIEF. At various times since the establishment of the Submarine Base in San Pedro, many of the destroyers built on the West Coast called upon the Base for supplies or were based there as well during their sea trials. Among these were the WARD, CALDWELL, ROBINON, SCHLEY, MUGFORD, BOGGS, LUDLOW, and KILTY.
The Submarine Base also served as a point of call, supply or repair facility for the BRUTUS, NANSHAN, IROQUOIS, BAY, OCEAN, CHALLENGE, VICKSBURG, OREGON, YORKTOWN, MINNEAPOLIS, IRIS, FARRAGUT, BROADBILL, and numerous Shipping Board vessels assigned to and commissioned for naval uses or otherwise employed in the Public Service. A number of Submarine-Chasers were attached at various times as well.
Six submarines of the new R-class were ordered to the Pacific, arriving at their new base, San Pedro, California, in June 1921. These submarines included R-1 (SS-78); R-2 (SS-79); R-3 (SS-80); R-4 (SS-81); R-5 (SS-82); R-6 (SS-83) and R-10 (SS-87), which operated out of San Pedro for the next two years. They were joined by the last class of submarines to be homeported in San Pedro those of the S-class.
Prior to the war, the submarines of the First Submarine Division, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, F-1 (SS-20), F-2 (SS-21), F-3 (SS-22), and F-4 (SS-23), were the first submarines assigned to the Submarine Base at San Pedro. Having been sent to Hawaii, where they established a base there, F-1, F-2 and F-3 were again ordered to return to San Pedro in 1916. At the outset of the war, the Navy attempted to keep the early F-class submarines in a war status. But after the Falkland Island fight when it was fair to conclude that there was no longer great risk from German sea raiders in the Pacific, these submarines were ordered to remove their torpedoes, together with all non-essential stores, and the vessels were thereafter ordered to operate as schooling submarines out of San Pedro.
In April 1918, the submarine tender ALERT (AS-4) would again resumed her duties as a Pacific Fleet Torpedo Flotilla submarine tender based out of San Pedro. That assignment would occupy her for the remaining four years of her naval career.
The submarine H-3 was reassigned to the Submarine Base, San Pedro, in August 1918, followed by the submarines H-4 through H-9 in November. These later H-class submarines were launched and commissioned in 1918, stationed at San Pedro, and were later joined by their sister submarines H-2 and H-3, remaining there until January, 1919.
O-class submarine USS O-16 (SS-77)
As made available after completion of work up at this Base, these R-class boats (except R-19 and R-20) and O-class submarines were sent forward to Panama, the last batch in the company of the tender BEAVER. The tender BEAVER, with the R-class boats mentioned, was later returned to the Pacific Station as Submarine Division Fourteen, which, under re-organization became the mobile division of the Pacific Fleet, which repeatedly used the San Pedro Submarine Base for supply and torpedo training after January 1919.
L-class submarine USS L-7 (SS-46)
The first of the S-class submarines to be stationed in San Pedro included the S-30 (SS-135); S-32 (SS-137); S-33 (SS-138); S-37 (SS-142) and S-38 (SS-143), being stationed there from 1922 to 1925. These submarines were built by the Bethlehem Ship Building Corporation, San Francisco, California, for the Electric Boat Company.
From 1925 to 1926, the submarine S-4 (SS-109) also briefly operated out of San Pedro.
Still, with the exception of a Submarine Base and its pier which were leased from the city of Los Angeles' Harbor Department, the 1,400 men stationed there, and the Reserve Training Center, other shore facilities in the San Pedro area were non-existent. By 1922, the Submarine Base's facilities were soon being shared with destroyers. The base would eventually give way to the destroyers, with the last mention of the Submarine Base at San Pedro being made in official Navy Orders was in 1929, when the base had already become specialized in servicing of auxiliary ships.
The S-class submarines reflected the Navy Department's prevailing warfare thinking of the time. The submersible or submarine was no longer thought of as purely a weapon for coastal defense. The Navy now viewed the submarine as being a type of destroyer or torpedo boat that could operate with the battle fleet. On paper, these characteristics, adopted during World War I, brought the Navy one step closer to the "fleet submarine," developed during World War II. Consequently, the S-class submarine in 1916, could do 15-knots on the surface.
USS S-30 (SS-135)
Submarine USS S-4 (SS-109) at Submarine Base - San Pedro, California
Following the Armistice, the submarines L-5 (SS-44); L-6 (SS-45); L-7 (SS-46) and L-8 (SS-48) arrived in San Pedro in early 1919, joining the Submarine Flotilla there and remaining there until 1922.
When tensions arose in the Far East between the United States and Japan, the Navy Department created Submarine Divisions Six and Seven, Pacific.
During this same time period, the Wilson Administration transferred 200 warships to the Pacific. This powerful fleet included America's newest battleships. Admiral Hugh Rodman, commander of the fleet, brought his dreadnought through the Panama Canal in record time in the "war scare" atmosphere of 1919.
F-class submarines F-2, F-1, and F-4
Monitor Wyoming in Dry Dock at Mare Island being converted into the submarine tender Cheyene.
In December 1918, the submarines N-1 (SS-53), N-2 (SS-54), and N-3 (SS-55), convoyed by the SAVANNAH, also utilized the Submarine Base while enroute to the Atlantic via the Panama Canal. They were followed in by the submarines L-6 (SS-45) and L-7 (SS-46) convoyed by the tender RAINBOW in April and May, 1918.
At that time, the Submarine Base's commanding officer, Captain C. F. Preston, USN, was relieved in November 1917, by Commander H. C. Poundstone, USN, who assumed additional duty as Commander, Submarine Force, Pacific Fleet, which additional duties said officer continued to exercise until June 24, 1918.
In 1914, the submarine tender CHEYENE became the first submarine tender to be stationed at the Submarine Base in San Pedro, operating with the submarines of the Second Submarine Division, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla. Her duties there continued until 1918. CHEYENE was soon joined by the newly converted iron-hulled screw steamer ALERT (AS-4). ALERT had been assigned to the Submarine Base at San Pedro for the Torpedo Flotilla, Pacific Fleet, until late 1917.
The entry of the United States into World War I necessitated an increase of American naval strength in the Atlantic. Thus, in December 1917, ALERT was ordered to steam from San Diego, transit the Panama Canal, and proceed to Bermuda where she was there to take up duty as base and repair ship. She accompanied the submarines K-3 (SS-34), K-4 (SS-35), K-7 (SS-38) and K-8 (SS-39), who were to be convoyed by the tender to the Florida Keys for antisubmarine patrol duty in the Gulf of Mexico.
Submarine Tender USS Alert (AS-4)
The Port of San Diego was considered too shallow to handle the largest ships and so, on August 9, 1919, the fleet steamed north to what would become the new battleship anchorage, the Ports of San Pedro (Los Angeles Harbor) and Long Beach in San Pedro Bay, California.
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