USS O-4 (SS-65), also known as "Submarine No. 65", was one of 16 O-classsubmarines 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.
The O-1-class submarines were designed to meet a Navy requirement for coastal defense boats.[4] The submarines had a length of 172ft 4in (52.5m)overall, a beam of 18ft 1in (5.5m), and a mean draft of 14ft 5in (4.4m). They displaced520 long tons (530t) on the surface and 629 long tons (639t) submerged. The O-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 27 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of 200ft (61.0m).[2][5]
On 24 July 1918, a British steamer mistook O-4 and O-6 for GermanU-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.[6]
When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-65.[3]
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.[6]
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.[6]
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.[6]
Length of service
Following the decommissioning of the submarines N-1, N-2, and N-3, 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 Picuda in February 1971.[citation needed]
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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