USS S-26 (SS-131)

insert image here insert caption here (insert link to larger image here)
Career
Ordered:
Laid down:	7 November 1919
Launched:	22 August 1922
Commissioned:	15 October 1923
Fate:
Stricken:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	854 tons surfaced, 1062 tons submerged
Length:	219 feet 3 inches
Beam:	20 feet 8 inches
Draft:	15 feet 11 inches
Speed:	14.5 knots surfaced, 11 knots submerged
Complement:	42 officers and men
Armament:	one four-inch gun, four 21-inch torpedo tubes

USS S-26 (SS-131) was an S-class submarine. Her keel was laid down on 7 November 1919 by the Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation of Quincy, Massachusetts. She launched on 22 August 1922 sponsored by Mrs. Carlos Bean, and commissioned on 15 October 1923 with Lieutenant Edmund W. Burrough in command.

Operating out of New London, Connecticut, from 1923 into 1925, S-26 visited St. Thomas and Trinidad from January into April 1924, and Hawaii from 27 April to 30 May 1925. Cruising from California ports, mainly Mare Island, California, San Diego, California, and San Pedro, California, S-26 visited Hawaii in the summers of 1927, 1928, 1929, and 1930. She also served in the Panama Canal area from March into May 1927, and in February 1929. Departing San Diego on 1 December 1930, she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 12 December. From then into 1938, S-26 served at Pearl Harbor. Sailing from there on 15 October 1938, she returned to New London on 25 March 1939. Entering a period of partial duty on 15 April that year, she resumed full duty on 1 July 1940.

Following duty at New London and hydrogen tests at Washington, DC., S-26 sailed from New London on 10 December 1941, and arrived at Coco Solo, Panama, on 19 December. Rammed by submarine chaser PC-460 at night in the Gulf of Panama, S-26 sank on 24 January 1942 with the loss of 46 men. Three men survived. Her hull was not salvaged.

References

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.