USS S-1 (SS-105)
History of the USS S-1 Submarine
The USS S-1 (SS-105) was ordered for the U.S. Navy during World War I. Her keel was laid down by the Fore River Shipyard in Massachusetts on December 11, 1917. She was launched on October 26, 1918 and commissioned on June 5, 1920 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Thomas G. Berrien.
The USS S-1 spent her early career based in New London, Connecticut with Submarine Division 2 until January 2, 1923. She then joined Submarine Division Zero to conduct experimental work, the only ship in her division. After some alterations, she became the experimental platform to investigate submarine borne observation and scouting aircraft.
Once the experiments were complete, the USS S-1 served as the flagship for Submarine Division 2. She was then transferred to Submarine Division 4, cruising to the Panama Canal Zone and operating out of New London off the coast of New England. The submarine then shifted to Pearl Harbor from 1931 until 1937. She was decommissioned on October 20, 1937.
With the advent of World War II, the USS S-1 was recommissioned on October 16, 1940. She made two training cruises to Bermuda, arriving home at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the same day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941.
Back at Philadelphia, the USS S-1 was decommissioned and transferred to the British Royal Navy on April 20, 1942 under the Lend-Lease Program. She served Britain as the HMS P-552, providing antisubmarine warfare training. The submarine was struck from the United States Naval Vessel Register on June 24, 1942. The Royal Navy declared her unseaworthy in January 1944 and she was returned to U.S. Navy custody on October 16 of the same year. She was sold for scrap on July 20, 1945.
The use of asbestos was common in shipbuilding components for much of the 20th Century because of its resistance to heat, fire, water and corrosion. Because of their asbestos exposure onboard ship and in the shipyards, seaman, shipyard workers and longshoreman are at risk for developing asbestos-related diseases like mesothelioma.
Sources include:
Asbestos and Ship-Building: Fatal Consequences, by John Hedley-Whyte and Debra R Milamed
