USS O-4 (SS-65), also known as "Submarine No. 65", was one of 16 O-class submarines of the United States Navy commissioned during World War I. She was recommissioned prior to the United States entry into WWII, for use as a trainer.
Design
The O-1-class submarines were designed to meet a Navy requirement for coastal defense boats. The submarines had a length of overall, a beam of , and a mean draft of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The O-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 27 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of .
For surface running, the boats were powered by two NELSECO 6-EB-14 diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a New York Navy Yard electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the O-class had a range of at .
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 O-class submarines were also armed with a single /23 caliber retractable deck gun.
Construction
O-4s keel was laid down on 4 December 1916, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 20 October 1917, sponsored by Mrs. Maud Williams, and commissioned on 29 May 1918.
Service history
O-4 operated out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, during World War I, and patrolled the US Atlantic coast from Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, to Key West, in Florida.
On 24 July 1918, a British steamer mistook O-4 and for German U-boats and fired on the submarines. Although O-4 received six hits from the steamer, she suffered no major damage. In November, she joined the 20-submarine contingent that departed Newport, Rhode Island, on 3 November for European waters, however, hostilities ceased before the boats had reached the Azores.
O-4 then sailed to New London, Connecticut, to train students at the Submarine School there.
When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-65.
Reclassified to a second-line submarine on 26 July 1924, and reverting to a first-liner on 6 June 1928, she trained Submarine School students at New London until 1931, with the exception of a brief tour at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone. O-4 decommissioned on 3 June 1931.
The approach of World War II saw the recall of O-4 to active service. She recommissioned on 29 January 1941 and trained students at the Submarine School until war's end.
Fate
After the war, she steamed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to decommission there on 20 September 1945. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 October 1945, and scrapped on 1 February 1946.
Length of service
Following the decommissioning of the submarines , , and , in April 1926, O-4 was the oldest submarine in active service with the United States Navy, until her final decommissioning in September 1945. Although O-4 was fourth boat numerically in the O-class, she was the first commissioned. O-4 held the distinction of being the US Navy's submarine in service for the longest period of time, 27 years 4 months, until surpassed by in February 1971.
Awards
- World War I Victory Medal
- American Defense Service Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- World War II Victory Medal