USS L-5 (SS-44)

USS "L-5" (SS-44) was an "L"-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 14 May 1914 by Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

The L-boats designed by Lake Torpedo Boat ("L-5" through "L-8") were built to slightly different specifications from the other L-boats, which were designed by Electric Boat, and are sometimes considered a separate "L-5" class.

"L-5" was launched on 1 May 1916 sponsored by Mrs. Rosalind Robinson, and commissioned on 17 February 1918 with Lieutenant J. M. Deem in command.

After exercises along the Atlantic coast, "L-5" departed Charleston, South Carolina, on 15 October 1918 with Submarine Division 6 and reached the Azores on 7 November. Following the Armistice with Germany on 11 November, "L-5" headed west, arriving Bermuda on 1 December. She participated in exercises in the Caribbean Sea before steaming on to San Pedro, California, where she arrived 13 February 1919.

From 1919 to 1922, she remained on the West Coast experimenting with new torpedoes and underseas detection equipment. "L-5" departed San Pedro 25 July 1922, and, after visits in Mexico, Nicaragua, and the Panama Canal Zone, she arrived Hampton Roads, Virginia, on 28 September. The submarine remained there until she decommissioned 5 December 1922. She was sold 21 December 1925 to Passaic Salvage and Reclamation Company in Newark, New Jersey, and scrapped.

References