USS S-25 (SS-130) was a first-group (S-1 or "Holland") S-class submarine

United States S class submarine

The United States' S-class submarines, often simply called S-boats , were the first class of submarines built to a United States Navy design....

 of the United States Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

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S-25 was laid down on 26 October 1918 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Corporation in Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy, Massachusetts

Quincy is a city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. Its nicknames are "City of Presidents", "City of Legends", and "Birthplace of the American Dream". As a major part of Metropolitan Boston, Quincy is a member of Boston's Inner Core Committee for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council...

. She was launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 on 29 May 1922 sponsored by Mrs. Ross P. Schlabach, and commissioned

Ship commissioning

Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military...

 on 9 July 1923 with Lieutenant Commander George H. Fort in command.

US Navy service

Operating from New London, Connecticut

New London, Connecticut

New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States.It is located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, southeastern Connecticut....

, in 1923, S-25 participated in winter maneuvers in the Caribbean Sea

Caribbean Sea

The Caribbean Sea is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean located in the tropics of the Western hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico and Central America to the west and southwest, to the north by the Greater Antilles, and to the east by the Lesser Antilles....

 and Panama Canal

Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is a ship canal in Panama that joins the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and is a key conduit for international maritime trade. Built from 1904 to 1914, the canal has seen annual traffic rise from about 1,000 ships early on to 14,702 vessels measuring a total of 309.6...

 Zone area from January into April 1924. Then transferred to the West Coast, she operated primarily in the waters off southern California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 into 1931. Fleet problems and division exercises during that period took her back to Panama from March into May 1927 and in February 1929 and to Hawaii

Hawaii

Hawaii is the newest of the 50 U.S. states , and is the only U.S. state made up entirely of islands. It is the northernmost island group in Polynesia, occupying most of an archipelago in the central Pacific Ocean, southwest of the continental United States, southeast of Japan, and northeast of...

 in 1927, 1928, and 1930. Transferred again, she sailed from San Diego, California

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

, on 15 April 1931; arrived at Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor, known to Hawaiians as Puuloa, is a lagoon harbor on the island of Oahu, Hawaii, west of Honolulu. Much of the harbor and surrounding lands is a United States Navy deep-water naval base. It is also the headquarters of the U.S. Pacific Fleet...

 on 25 April; and from then into 1939 operated in Hawaiian waters.

S-25 cleared Pearl Harbor to return to the Atlantic Ocean

Atlantic Ocean

The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

 on 16 June of that year and arrived at New London on 25 August. Voyage repairs followed and in February 1940, she was assigned to a test and evaluation division there. In December, she was detached and ordered to Key West, Florida

Key West, Florida

Key West is a city in Monroe County, Florida, United States. The city encompasses the island of Key West, the part of Stock Island north of U.S. 1 , Sigsbee Park , Fleming Key , and Sunset Key...

, where she provided training services into May 1941, then returned to New London to prepare for transfer under the terms of the lend-lease

Lend-Lease

Lend-Lease was the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, Free France, and other Allied nations with materiel between 1941 and 1945. It was signed into law on March 11, 1941, a year and a half after the outbreak of war in Europe in...

 agreement.

Polish Navy service

S-25 was decommissioned on 4 November 1941 and simultaneously transferred to Great Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 where she was renamed . She was then loaned to the government of Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 in exile, accepted by Lieutenant Commander B. Romanowski of the Polish Navy

Polish Navy

The Marynarka Wojenna Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej - MW RP Polish Navy, is the branch of Republic of Poland Armed Forces responsible for naval operations...

, and commissioned as ORP Jastrząb

ORP Jastrzab

ORP Jastrząb was an old Holland-type S-class submarine, originally of the United States Navy, in Polish service between 1941 and 1942, when she was lost to friendly fire....

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While traveling in an Allied convoy near Norway

Norway

Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...

, Jastrzab strayed some 100 miles (160 km) off her proper course, and on 2 May 1942 was sunk by friendly fire by the destroyer HMS St. Albans (ex-USS Thomas

USS Thomas (DD-182)

The first USS Thomas was a Wickes class destroyer in the United States Navy following World War I. She was later transferred to the Royal Navy as HMS St Albans , as a Town class destroyer, but spent most of the war in the exiled Royal Norwegian Navy, before transferred to the Soviet Navy as...

) and the minesweeper HMS Seagull

HMS Seagull (J85)

HMS Seagull was a , and the first Royal Navy ship to be built entirely without rivets. She was completed on 30th March 1938.During the Second World War she helped escort 21 Arctic convoys, and participated in Operation Neptune...

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