USS S-45 (SS-156) - Service History

Service History

Completing shakedown exercises off the southern New England coast, S-45 departed New London, Connecticut, on 9 June 1925. Nineteen days later, she joined Submarine Division (SubDiv) 19 at Coco Solo, Canal Zone, and commenced type exercises and joint United States Army-United States Navy maneuvers in the Panama Canal area. During the next two years, only Fleet Problems VI and VII took her out of her normal operating area. In May 1927, the S-boat moved northwest to Mare Island for overhaul, then began operations out of San Diego, California.

The following spring, S-45 participated in Fleet Problem VIII, a convoy and antisubmarine search and contact problem conducted en route between San Francisco, California, and Honolulu, Hawaii. During the winter of 1929, she returned to the Panama Canal Zone for Fleet Problem IX.

In December 1930, S-45 was transferred a third time; and, on 12 December, she arrived at her new home port, Pearl Harbor, whence she operated, with SubDiv 11, on a schedule of exercises and fleet problems similar to those followed previously for the next year and one half. In September 1932, she joined Rotating Reserve Division 14 and, for the next several years alternated active service with Division 11 and reserve status in Division 14.

In March 1936, the boats of SubDiv 11 were ordered back to Panama. They participated in Fleet Problem XVII en route and arrived at Coco Solo, their new home port, on 22 May. For the next four years, they maintained a schedule similar to previous tours in the Canal Zone.

With the new decade, 1940, and the expansion of hostilities in Europe and Asia, the schedule was varied. Exercises and patrols in the vital canal area were stepped up, and plans were made to overhaul and modernize the old S-boats. On 15 May 1941, S-45 got underway for Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. There, she received new equipment, exclusive of air-conditioning, and a complete overhaul. By August, she was off the New England coast for simulated war patrol exercises, and, in October, she moved south to Bermuda for patrol and antisubmarine warfare training duties.