Skip to main content

Naval History and Heritage Command

National Museum of the U.S. Navy

<p>NMUSN:&nbsp; Ships:&nbsp; &nbsp;USS S-3</p>

USS S-3 (SS-107), 1919-1931

Related Content
USS S-3 (Submarine #107, later SS-107)

Government-type S-class submarine, USS S-3, was commissioned on January 30, 1919, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine.   She was the third of the original S-boats built by different contractors for performance comparison.   S-1 was known as the "Holland-type" and S-2 was the "Lake-type".   S-3 operated the next few years off the eastern coast of the United States and Cuba.   Assigned to Submarine Division 12, she voyaged in July 1921 to the Asiatic Fleet at Cavite Naval Station, Philippine Islands, which was the longest voyage by U.S. Navy submarines at that time.  Relocating to New London, Connecticut, in 1923, she conducted experiments at the Submarine School involving aircraft, training operations, and new techniques.  In July 1927, S-3 and USS S-1 formed Submarine Division Four and made yearly cruises to the Panama Canal Zone for three years.   Returning to New England in 1931, she was ordered to Philadelphia Navy Yard, Pennsylvania, for deactivation and was decommissioned on March 24, then sold for scrapping in January 1937.  

A model of S-3 can be found in the Dive, Dive, Dive! exhibit at the National Museum of the U.S. Navy.    

Image:  NH 41800:  USS S-3 (SS-107), underway during trials, May 1919.  NHHC Photograph Collection.