USS S-46 (SS-157)
History of the USS S-46 Submarine
The USS S-46 (SS-157) was ordered for the U.S. Navy after World War I. Her keel was laid down by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation in Massachusetts on February 23, 1921. She was launched on September 11, 1923 and commissioned on June 5, 1925 under the command of Lieutenant Commander Hubert V. LaBombard.
During her early career, USS S-46 was based out of Coco Solo near the Panama Canal Zone with Submarine Division 19. She spent several years conducting local operations, training cruises, and participating in the annual Fleet Problems.
Submarine Division 19 was transferred to the Battle Fleet in 1927, and the USS S-46 shifted her homeport to Mare Island in California. For the next few years, she participated in tactical exercises, conducted local operations, and took park in the search for missing Dole Air Race pilots.
In December 1930, Submarine Division 10 was transferred again, this time to Pearl Harbor. For five years, the USS S-46 alternated training operations with time in the Rotating Reserve Division 14. After Fleet Problem XVII, the submarine shifted her homeport back to Coco Solo as a member of Submarine Division 11.
The USS S-46 operated out of Coco Solo until she was ordered to New London, Connecticut in early 1941. While there, she patrolled the coast of New England and participated in training operations with the Submarine School. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the submarine returned to the Panama Canal Zone to conduct defensive war patrols.
On April 15, 1942, the USS S-46 arrived at Brisbane. Her first offensive war patrol began on May 13 in the waters off New Britain. Along with a Royal Australian Navy escort, the submarine conducted sound training exercises. Her cook was discovered to have the mumps on May 15, and she disembarked her sick crew members for hospitalization the following day. As she continued on her patrol, she encountered no enemy surface targets worth engaging. She put in at Brisbane on June 21 after her auxiliary air compressor jammed.
After repairs and refitting, the USS S-46 sailed for her second war patrol on July 20 in the Solomon Islands. This uneventful patrol ended on August 15 back at Brisbane.
The USS S-46 got underway for her third war patrol on September 11 in the waters east of New Guinea. Her patrol was as uneventful as the previous one, and she returned to Brisbane on October 11.
On November 4, the USS S-46 headed back to the Panama Canal Zone, arriving at Coco Solo on January 9, 1943. From there, she was sent on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for a major overhaul.
When her overhaul was complete, the USS S-46 was ordered north to the Aleutian Islands. Based out of Dutch Harbor, she conducted her fourth war patrol from October to November, damaging a Japanese oiler. Her fifth and final war patrol lasted from December until January 1944 without scoring any hits.
The USS S-46 was then assigned to antisubmarine warfare training duty in the Aleutians, Hawaii, and off the coast of California. After World War II, she was decommissioned on November 2, 1945, struck from the Naval Vessel Register on November 16, and sold for scrap one year later. The submarine received one battle star for her service in World War II.
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
