The Prewar Patrol: June

U.S. Navy Submarine Events in June (1900–1939)

4 June 1913 – USS H-2 (SS-29) launched: The H‑class submarine originally named Nautilus was launched at Union Iron Works, San Francisco. USS H-2 later served on the West Coast and in Caribbean patrols during WWI.

*H-2* (SS-29) underway, probably while running trials in California waters, 1913. (NAVSOURCE)
*Official USN photo # NH 99351, from the collections of the Naval Historical Center.*

Circa early 1920’s at Pearl Harbor. What looks to be the *R-15* (SS-92) on the left, *R-12* (SS-89) in the middle and *R-19* (SS-96). The mast of what might be the former cruiser ***Chicago***, now a barracks ship under the classification ***IX-5***, lies to the right of the ***R-19***. (NAVSOURCE)

*USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofworldwarii.org*

18 June 1913 – USS Holland (SS-1) sold for scrap: Holland, the Navy’s first commissioned submarine (acquired 11 April 1900), was officially sold for scrap. Holland had served in trials and training early in the 20th century before her disposal in June 1913.
15 June 1914 – USS G-1 (SS-19½) placed in reserve: The experimental G‑class submarine USS G-1, used for coastal defense training, was placed in reserve status at New York on this date. This followed her year-and-a-half of dive and torpedo exercises in Long Island Sound.
17 June 1919 – USS R-19 (SS-96) departs for Hawaii: After WWI, coastal-defense submarine USS R-19 left San Francisco en route to Pearl Harbor. She arrived in Hawaii eight days later and began nearly 12 years of crew-training and equipment-test duties out of Pearl Harbor. (She had been commissioned 7 October 1918.)

5 June 1920 – USS S-1 (SS-105) commissioned: The prototype “Holland-type” S‑class submarine S-1 was commissioned at Quincy, Massachusetts. S-1 became the first of the “S-1” design (Fore River-built) and soon carried out training cruises and experimental trials, including pioneering submarine-launched aircraft tests in later years.
9 June 1920 – USS G-1 designated depth-charge target: The old experimental submarine USS G-1 was formally designated as a target for depth-charge tests by the Bureau of Ordnance. In the ensuing trials, the submarine was sunk on 21 June 1921 during controlled depth-charge attacks off Narragansett Bay.
21 June 1921 – USS G-1 sunk as target: Continuing the above event, USS G-1 was sunk (settled to the bottom in 90 ft of water) after intensive depth-charge attacks by the minesweeper USS Grebe. The wreck was abandoned and G-1 was officially struck from the Navy list on 29 August 1921.
24 June 1922 – USS S-51 (SS-162) commissioned: The S-51, a fourth-group S-class submarine, was commissioned in New London, Connecticut. She would famously sink later that year (September 1925) in a collision, an event well documented by Navy archives.
21 June 1924 – USS O-11 (SS-72) decommissioned: The World War I–era submarine O-11 was decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on this date. She had entered service in late 1918 and was then laid up under postwar treaties, being struck from the register six years later.
5 July 1926 – USS S-51 (SS-162) raised: Nearly nine months after her sinking in Block Island Sound (25 September 1925), USS S-51 was successfully refloated on 5 June 1926. (Her hull was later sold for scrap on 23 June 1930.) This salvage is chronicled in U.S. Navy historical records.

A day in the life of active service during *S-51’s* (SS-162) 39 months in commission in 1924 (NAVSOURCE)

6 June 1938 – USS Sargo (SS-188) launched: The first Sargo-class submarine was launched at Electric Boat’s Groton yard, Connecticut. Sponsored by Mrs. Katherine Nimitz, wife of Captain (later Admiral) C. W. Nimitz, USS Sargo entered service in February 1939 and served in Pacific fleet exercises before WWII.

Sources: U.S. Navy historical archives (NHHC DANFS and photo collections) and related naval history references.