USS S-30 (SS-135) - Service History

Service History

Based at San Pedro, California, with her home yard at Mare Island, S-30 conducted tests and exercises off the California coast into the summer of 1921. Then, on 15 August, she was placed in ordinary. Recommissioned in full on 14 February 1922, she was ordered to New London, Connecticut, where she was placed in ordinary again on 21 June for engine alterations by the prime contractor, the Electric Boat Company.

Trials and exercises off the southern New England coast followed her recommissioning in full on 21 November; and, in January 1923, she moved south to the Caribbean Sea to participate in winter maneuvers and Fleet Problem I, conducted to test the defenses of the Panama Canal Zone. In April, she returned to California and resumed operations off that coast with her division, Submarine Division (SubDiv) 16. During the winter of 1924, she again participated in fleet exercises and problems in the Canal Zone and in the Caribbean and, in the winter of 1925, she prepared for transfer to the Asiatic Fleet.

S-30 departed Mare Island, with her division, in mid-April. During May, she conducted exercises and underwent upkeep in the Hawaiian Islands; and, on 16 June, she continued on to the Philippines. On 12 July, she arrived at the Submarine Base, Cavite, Luzon, whence she operated until 1932. Her division rotated between exercises and patrols in the Philippines during the winter and operations off the China coast during the summer. In 1932, her division was ordered back to the eastern Pacific Ocean; and, on 2 May, she departed Manila for Pearl Harbor, her home port until transferred back to the East Coast in 1937.

Sailing from Pearl Harbor on 19 May 1937, S-30 arrived at New London on 8 August. For the next year and one-half, she trained along the Atlantic Ocean seaboard. Then, in May 1939, she was placed in commission, in reserve. On 1 September 1940, she was returned to full commission.