USS S-41, a 1062-ton S-1 class submarine built at San Francisco, California, was commissioned in January 1924. She served along the west coast for several months and in September-November crossed the Pacific to join the Asiatic Fleet, her assignment for the next seventeen years. During that time, she was mainly engaged in peacetime activities in the Philippines and off China. After the Pacific War began on 8 December 1941, S-41 operated in defense of the Philippines and, when that mission became hopeless early in 1942, went south to serve in the Dutch East Indies. Once the Japanese had conquered that region, she was transferred to Australia.

S-41 operated out of Fremantle and Brisbane, Australia, until September 1942, making patrols into the Solomon Islands. She then returned to the United States for the first time since September 1924 and began a major overhaul in an attempt to correct the materiel problems that constantly troubled her class of elderly submarines. In April 1943, S-41 was sent to the north Pacific, where she sank a Japanese merchant ship in late May. Her operations in the region continued until later in the year, when she began training duty at Pearl Harbor. Late in 1944 she went back to the west coast, where she was decommissioned in February 1945. USS S-41 was sold for scrapping in November 1946.