USS L-5 (SS-44), also known as "Submarine No. 44", was an L-classsubmarine of the United States Navy. She worked on submarine tactics off the East Coast, prior to sailing to the Azores, during WWI. After the war she transferred to the Pacific, where she worked with experimental torpedoes and underwater detection equipment.
The L-class 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. The Lake boats had a length of 165ft (50.3m)overall, a beam of 14ft 9in (4.5m), and a mean draft of 13feet 3inches (4.0m). They displaced456 long tons (463t) on the surface and 527 long tons (535t) submerged. The L-class submarines had a crew of two officers and 28 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of 200ft (61.0m).[2]
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 600-brake-horsepower (447kW)Busch-Sulzerdiesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 400-horsepower (298kW)electric motor. They could reach 14kn (26km/h; 16mph) on the surface and 10.5kn (19.4km/h; 12.1mph) underwater. On the surface, the Lake boats had a range of 5,150nmi (9,540km; 5,930mi), at 11kn (20km/h; 13mph),[2] and 150nmi (280km; 170mi), at 5kn (9.3km/h; 5.8mph), submerged.[4]
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 L-class submarines were also armed with a single 3in (76mm)/23 caliber on a disappearing mount.[4]
After participating in 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 at 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.[5]
From 1919 to 1922, she remained on the West Coast, experimenting with new torpedoes and underseas detection equipment.[5]
L-5 remained there until she decommissioned on 5 December 1922. She was sold on 21 December 1925, to Passaic Salvage and Reclamation Company, in Newark, New Jersey, and subsequently scrapped.[5]
Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-85177-245-5.
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