USS L-5
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsUSS L-5 (SS-44), also known as "Submarine No. 44", was an L-class submarine of the United States Navy. She worked on submarine tactics off the East Coast, prior to sailing to the Azores, during WWI. After the war she transferred to the Pacific, where she worked with experimental torpedoes and underwater detection equipment.
Design
The L-class boats designed by Lake Torpedo Boat (L-5 through L-8) were built to slightly different specifications from the other L boats, which were designed by Electric Boat, and are sometimes considered a separate L-5 class. The Lake boats had a length of Template:Cvt overall, a beam of Template:Cvt, and a mean draft of Template:Convert. They displaced Template:Cvt on the surface and Template:Cvt submerged. The L-class submarines had a crew of two officers and 28 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of Template:Cvt.Template:Sfn
For surface running, the boats were powered by two Template:Convert Busch-Sulzer diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a Template:Convert electric motor. They could reach Template:Cvt on the surface and Template:Cvt underwater. On the surface, the Lake boats had a range of Template:Cvt, at Template:Cvt,Template:Sfn and Template:Cvt, at Template:Cvt, submerged.Template:Sfn
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 L-class submarines were also armed with a single [[3"/23 caliber gun|Template:Cvt/23 caliber]] on a disappearing mount.Template:Sfn
Construction
L-5Template:'s keel was laid down on 14 May 1914, by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, in Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was launched on 1 May 1916, sponsored by Miss Rosalind Robinson, and commissioned on 17 February 1918.Template:Sfn
Service history
After participating in exercises along the Atlantic coast, L-5 departed Charleston, South Carolina, on 15 October 1918, with Submarine Division 6, and reached the Azores, on 7 November. Following the Armistice with Germany on 11 November, L-5 headed west, arriving at Bermuda, on 1 December. She participated in exercises in the Caribbean Sea before steaming on to San Pedro, California, where she arrived 13 February 1919.Template:Sfn
From 1919 to 1922, she remained on the West Coast, experimenting with new torpedoes and underseas detection equipment.Template:Sfn
L-5 departed San Pedro, on 25 July 1922, and after visits in Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Panama Canal Zone, she arrived Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 28 September.Template:Sfn
Fate
L-5 remained there until she decommissioned on 5 December 1922. She was sold on 21 December 1925, to Passaic Salvage and Reclamation Company, in Newark, New Jersey, and subsequently scrapped.Template:Sfn
References
Bibliography
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