USS O-5 (SS-66)
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Ordered: | |
| Laid down: | 8 December 1916 |
| Launched: | 11 November 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 8 June 1918 |
| Fate: | sunk by a fruit ship |
| Stricken: | 28 April 1924 |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 520.6 tons surfaced, 629 tons submerged |
| Length: | 172 feet 4 inches |
| Beam: | 18 feet |
| Draft: | 14 feet 5 inches |
| Speed: | 14 knots surfaced, 10.5 knots submerged |
| Complement: | 29 officers and men |
| Armament: | one three-inch/50-caliber gun, four 18-inch torpedo tubes |
During the final months of World War I, O-5 operated along the Atlantic coast and patrolled from Cape Cod to Key West, Florida. She departed Newport, Rhode Island, on 3 November with a 20-sub contingent bound for European waters; however, hostilities had ceased before the vessels reached the Azores.
After the Armistice, O-5 operated out of the Submarine School at New London, Connecticut, until 1923. O-5 then sailed to Coco Solo, Canal Zone, for a brief tour. On 28 October 1923, as O-5 entered Limon Bay, preparatory to transiting the Panama Canal, she was rammed by United Fruit steamer Abangarez and sank in less than a minute. Three men died; 16 others escaped. Two crewmembers were trapped in the forward torpedo room, which they sealed against the flooding of the submarine. Local engineers and divers were able to rig cranes and other equipment and lift O-5 far enough off the bottom that the bow broke the surface, exposing a hatch which led to the compartment were the two mem were trapped, allowing them to be freed.
Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 April 1924, she was sold as a hulk to R.K. Morris, Balboa, Canal Zone, on 12 December 1924.
References
This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.