USS O-2
USS O-2 , also known as "Submarine No. 63", was one of 16 [United States United States O-class submarine|O-class submarine|O-class] submarines of the United States Navy commissioned during World War I. She was recommissioned prior to the United States entry into WWII, for use as a trainer.
Design
The O-1-class submarines were designed to meet a Navy requirement for coastal defense boats. The submarines had a length of overall, a beam of, and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and submerged. The O-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 27 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of.For surface running, the boats were powered by two NELSECO 6-EB-14 diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a New York Navy Yard electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the O-class had a range of at.
The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The O-class submarines were also armed with a single /23 caliber retractable deck gun.
Construction
O-2s keel was laid down on 27 July 1917, by the Puget Sound Navy Yard, in Bremerton, Washington. She was launched on 24 May 1918, sponsored by Mrs. Mary Chew, and commissioned at Puget Sound, on 19 October 1918.Service history
During World War I, O-2 patrolled off the New England coast until war's end.When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-63.
Reclassified as a second-line submarine on 25 July 1924, and reverting to a first-liner on 6 June 1928, she served at the submarine base, New London, Connecticut, in training officers and men until 1931, except for a brief tour at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, in 1924. In 1931, she transferred to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she decommissioned on 25 June 1931.
With increasing possibility of US involvement in World War II, O-2 recommissioned at Philadelphia, on 3 February 1941. Steaming to New London, in June, she trained submarine crews there until after Germany collapsed.