Submarine Chaser No. 38 is in the center in this 27 November 1917 photograph of SC-1-class submarine chasers under construction at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York. At left is Submarine Chaser No. 36, and the bow of Submarine Chaser No. 39 is at right.
History
United States
Name	USS Submarine Chaser No. 38 (1917-1919) USS SC-38 (retrospectively since 1920)
Builder	New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York
Commissioned	1 February 1918
Fate	Sold December 1919
General characteristics
Class and type	SC-1-class submarine chaser
Displacement	77 tons normal 85 tons full load
Length	110 ft (34 m) overall 105 ft (32 m) between perpendiculars
Beam	14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
Draft	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) normal 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) full load
Propulsion	Three 220 bhp (160 kW) Standard Motor Construction Company six-cylinder gasoline engines, three shafts, 2,400 US gallons (9,100 L) of gasoline; one Standard Motor Construction Company two-cylinder gasoline-powered auxiliary engine
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h)
Range	1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h)
Complement	27 (2 officers, 25 enlisted men)
Sensors and processing systems	One Submarine Signal Company S.C. C Tube, M.B. Tube, or K Tube hydrophone
Armament	1 × 3-inch (76.2 mm)/23-caliber gun mount 2 × Colt .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns 1 × Y-gun depth charge projector

USS SC-38, during her service life known as USS Submarine Chaser No. 38 or USS S.C. 38, was an SC-1-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during World War I.

SC-38 was a wooden-hulled 110-foot (34 m) submarine chaser built at the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York. She was commissioned on 1 February 1918 as USS Submarine Chaser No. 38, abbreviated at the time as USS S.C. 38.

In 1919, Submarine Chaser No. 38 participated in North Sea minesweeping operations to clear the North Sea Mine Barrage. During these operations, she struck a mine on 4 September 1919 and was damaged, but suffered no casualties. She was salvaged, and the Navy sold her to Thomas Lee of Ipswich, England, in December 1919.

The U.S. Navy adopted its modern hull number system on 17 July 1920, after Submarine Chaser No. 38 had left Navy service. Had she remained in Navy service at that date, she would have been classified as SC-38 and her name would have been shortened to USS SC-38, and she now is referred to retrospectively by this name.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Submarine Chaser Photo Archive: SC-38
• The Subchaser Archives: The History of U.S. Submarine Chasers in the Great War Hull number: SC-38
• Woofenden, Todd A. Hunters of the Steel Sharks: The Submarine Chasers of World War I. Bowdoinham, Maine: Signal Light Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0-9789192-0-7.