USS S-24 (SS-129) was an S-18-class submarine, also referred to as an S-1-class or "Holland"-type, of the United States Navy. During World War II, she was transferred to the Royal Navy as P.555.
Design
The S-18-class had a length of overall, a beam of , and a mean draft of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. All S-class submarines had a crew of 4 officers and 34 enlisted men, when first commissioned. They had a diving depth of .
For surface running, the S-18-class were powered by two NELSECO diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a Ridgway Dynamo & Engine Company electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater.
The boats were armed with four American 21-inch torpedo| torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried eight reloads, for a total of twelve torpedoes. The S-18-class submarines were also armed with a single /50 caliber deck gun.
Construction
S-24s keel was laid down on 1 November 1918, by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation's Fore River Shipyard, in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 27 June 1922, sponsored by Mrs. Eleanor Loper, niece of Rear admiral Herbert O. Dunn, and commissioned on 24 August 1923, with future Admiral, Lieutenant commander Louis E. Denfeld in command.
Service history
1923–1941
Operating from New London, Connecticut, in 1923 and 1924, S-24 served at Saint Thomas, US Virgin Islands, in February 1924. She visited Trinidad, from 6 to 13 March, the Panama Canal area, in April of that year and the Territory of Hawaii, from 27 April to May 1925. In addition to service in the Panama Canal area, in February and March 1926 and again in February 1929, S-24, visited Hawaii in 1927 and 1928, and twice in 1929.
Next, into 1930, she served principally at San Diego, San Pedro, and Mare Island. Sailing from San Diego, on 1 December 1930, she arrived at Pearl Harbor, on 12 Decembre. From then into 1938, S-24 operated at Pearl Harbor. Departing from Pearl Harbor, on 15 October, she returned to New London, on 4 January 1939.
After serving with a partial crew at New London, from 1 April of that year, S-24 resumed full duty on 1 July 1940. Following duty out of New London, during that year and into 1941, S-24 served next in waters near the Panama Canal, from late December into May 1942.
World War II
S-24 returned to New London, on 21 May 1942, where she was decommissioned on 10 August 1942, and transferred to the United Kingdom, for service in the Royal Navy, as HMS P.555.
Royal Navy
When P.555 arrived in UK, in October 1942, she was assigned to the 7th Submarine Flotilla, a flotilla based out of Holy Loch, Scotland. She was used for training new submarine officers and crews, and surface warships, in anti-submarine warfare. Among the officers who commanded her was Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR) Lieutenant Edward Preston Young, making P.555 the first Royal Navy submarine to be commanded by a British RNVR officer. The Royal Navy decommissioned P.555 in May 1944, and returned her to the US Navy in December 1944.
Fate
After her return, the US Navy struck S-24 from the Navy List. She was scuttled in the English Channel, off Portland Bill, on 28 April 1947, for use as a sonar target, or 25 August 1947.
Wreck site:
Awards
- 106px American Defense Service Medal
- 106px American Campaign Medal
- 106px World War II Victory Medal