L-5 (Submarine No. 44)
1918-1922
(Submarine No. 44: displacement 456 (surfaced), 524 (submerged); length 165'; beam 14'9"; draft 13'3"; speed 14 knots (surfaced), 10.5 knots (submerged); complement 28; armament 1 3-inch, 4 18-inch torpedo tubes; class L-5)
L-5 (Submarine No. 44) was laid down on 14 May 1914 at Bridgeport, Conn., by the Lake Torpedo Boat Co.; launched on 1 May 1916; sponsored by Miss Rosalind Robinson, daughter of former Naval Constructor R. H. M. Robinson, General Manager, Lake Torpedo Boat Co.; and commissioned on 17 February 1918, Lt. Joseph M. Deem in command.
After participating in exercises along the Atlantic coast, L-5 departed Charleston, S.C., on 15 October 1918 with Submarine Division 6 and reached the Azores on 7 November. Following the Armistice on 11 November, L-5 headed west arriving at Bermuda on 1 December. She participated in exercises in the Caribbean before steaming on to San Pedro, Calif., where she arrived on 13 February 1919.
From 1919 to 1922, she remained on the west coast experimenting with torpedoes and underwater detection equipment during which time she was redesignated from Submarine No. 45 to SS-45 on 17 July 1920.
L-5 departed San Pedro on 25 July 1922, and, after visits to ports in Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Canal Zone, she arrived at Hampton Roads, Va., on 28 September, where she remained until she was decommissioned on 5 December 1922.
Sold on 21 December 1925 to Passaic Salvage & Reclamation Co., Newark, N.J., she was subsequently scrapped.
Updated, Robert J. Cressman
26 May 2020
