| Year | Date | Historical Events |
| 1918 | Dec 12 | Keel laid down by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, CA. |
| 1919 | Jun 20 | Launched. |
| 1923 | Jul 16 | Commissioned with with LT. Paul R. Glutting in command.
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| | Aug 1 | After fitting out at Mare Island, S-37 departed San Francisco Bay and joined SubDiv 17 at San Pedro, CA. During that month, September, and into October, she conducted exercises and tests off the Southern California coast.
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| | Oct 10 | On the afternoon of 10 October, while recharging her batteries in the harbor at San Pedro, CA., S-37 was rocked by an explosion in the after battery compartment. 2 men were killed as dense black smoke and gas fumes filled the flame and arc-lit room. |
| | Oct 10 | (Cont'd.) Extensive material damage added to the difficulty of rescue operations, but 3 men were extracted from the compartment, one of whom died of his injuries before medical help arrived. 2 of the rescuers were seriously injured. |
| | Oct 10 | (Cont'd.) Once determined no one remained alive in the compartment, the compartment was sealed to cut off the supply of oxygen to the fire. By 0500 the next morning, so much pressure had increased in the compartment it forced the main hatch open. |
| | Oct 10 | (Cont'd.) The compartment was re-sealed for another 5 hours, when it was opened at 1030, the fire reflashed. The crew shut the hatch again for another hour. At 1130, the compartment was successfully ventilated and cooled enough to allow the crew to enter. |
| | Oct 25 | Temporary repairs were completed, and S-37 headed to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA. for permanent repairs. |
| | Dec 19 | S-37 returned to duty at San Pedro, CA..
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| 1924 | Jan 1 | (Cont'd.) Caribbean defenses and transit facilities of the Panama Canal and movement from a main base to an advanced base, conducted in the Caribbean Sea. After completing Problem IV, her division remained in the Caribbean. |
| | Jan 1 | S-37 moved South and participated in Fleet Problems II, III, and IV which involved problems of Fleet movements, conducted enroute to the Gulf of Panama. |
| | Apr 1 | S-37 retransited the Panama Canal to return to the Pacific. |
| | Apr 25 | S-37 returned to San Pedro, CA. |
| | Apr 28 | S-37 continued to the Mare Island Naval Shipyard, Vallejo, CA.. There the boats of her division, having been transferred to the Asiatic Fleet, prepared to cross the Pacific.
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| | Sep 17 | SubDiv 17, accompanied by the submarine tender Canopus departed San Francisco, CA. |
| | Sep 26 | The ships arrived at Pearl Harbor, HI. |
| | Nov 4 | They reached Manila Bay, Philippines. They operated out of Cavite for 16 years. The S-boats worked as a division, spending the fall and winter months in the Philippines and deploying to the China coast for spring and summer exercises. |
| 1941 | Jan 1 | S-37 remained in the Philippines. In the Luzon area into the spring, in the Visayan Islands and Sulu Archipelago into the summer, and back in the Luzon area during the fall. |
| | Dec 8 | S-37 was in Manila Bay, Philippine Islands. With receipt of the news of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, S-37, commanded by James C. Dempsey, prepared for her 1st war patrol.
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| | Dec 9 | S-37 cleared the Corregidor outer minefield. moved into the Verde Island Passage, and took station at Puerta Galera, Mindoro where she remained on lookout duty until 17 December. She then returned to Manila, replenished and refueled. |
| | Dec 19 | S-37 headed back toward the Mindoro coast. |
| | Dec 20 | S-37 assumed patrol duties in Calavite Passage. |
| | Dec 21 | S-37 shifted to the Verde Island Passage. |
| | Dec 27 | S-37 reconnoitered Batangas Bay to investigate the detonation of fuel oil tanks and found only Filipino and American forces destroying the supplies before they could be captured by the Japanese. |
| | Dec 28 | While the noise of the exploding tanks continued, S-37 investigated reports of Japanese landings in Balayan Bay, then proceeded toward Looc Bay to verify or disprove a similar rumor. Finding both bays empty, she began to make her way South. |
| | Dec 30 | S-37 was off Panay. |
| 1942 | Jan 1 | S-37 suffered a fire in the starboard main motor panel. Repairs were made that night, and, on 2 January and 3 January she patrolled off the entrance to Basilan Strait. There, she sighted a Japanese submarine but was unable to close the range.
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| | Jan 4 | S-37 took up patrol duty off Japanese-held Jolo Island. |
| | Jan 7 | S-37 she continued South, toward Port Darwin, Australia. |
| | Jan 8 | New orders arrived, and S-37 set a course for Soerabaja, the Dutch naval base on the Northeast Coast of Java.
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| | Jan 11 | Japanese forces moved on Tarakan (Borneo) and Menado (Celebes). S-37, then off Stroomenkaap at the Western end of Celebes' northern peninsula, was ordered to make for the Borneo coast. |
| | Jan 12 | S-37 arrived and, for the next 3 days, remained in the Tarakan area, searching for enemy transports and cargomen, while at the same time eluding enemy destroyers. |
| | Jan 15 | S-37 was ordered to leave the area. |
| | Jan 23 | Unable to transmit identification messages, S-37 approached Madoera Strait and surfaced for recognition by Dutch patrol vessels. At 2118, she arrived in Soerabaja Roads.
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| | Feb 2 | S-37 departed Soerabaja and headed back to Makassar Strait. |
| | Feb 5 | S-37 was off Cape William. |
| | Feb 6 | S-37 shifted Southward to patrol the Southern approaches to Makassar City. |
| | Feb 8 | S-37 sighted a destroyer, which was thought to be an advance guard unit for enemy forces en route to that city. The destroyer, allowed to pass unmolested, disappeared to the northwest.
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| | Feb 8 | (Cont'd.) The mast and upper works of 3 destroyers in column were sighted. Distance 5 miles, estimated speed 15 knots. A half-hour's wait brought no transports or cargomen into view, and S-37 went after the destroyer formation. |
| | Feb 8 | (Cont'd.) Moving on the surface, S-37 closed the 4 destroyers in column, distance 8000 yards. All torpedoes were readied and, she commenced her approach.A minute later, she sighted another, closer formation of 4 destroyers, distance 4000 yards. |
| | Feb 8 | (Cont'd.) Plus the dim outlines of 3 large ships resembling transports, distance 3 miles on a northerly course. It would turn out there were fifteen transports in convoy. S-37 changed course to go after the transports.
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| | Feb 8 | (Cont'd.) S-37, unable to gain an unimpaired shot at the transports, in an act of rare courage, shifted to attack the destroyers. She closed to point blank range, 800 yds, and fired 1 torpedo at each destroyer. |
| | Feb 8 | (Cont'd.) 30 seconds after firing the 3rd torpedo, she observed a hit between the stacks of the third and, as black smoke rose, it buckled in the middle and formed a vee approximately 20ft above the bow and stern. Natsushio was doomed. |
| | Feb 8 | (Cont'd.) The 4th destroyer, however, sighted S-37 as the 4th torpedo was fired and turned to starboard. S-37 dived and rigged for depth charging. The destroyers moved out of the area. S-37 reloaded and resumed the hunt.
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| | Feb 17 | S-37 passed the Paternoster Islands. |
| | Feb 18 | S-37 arrived off Lombok Strait. |
| | Feb 19 | S-37 patrolled in Lombok and Badoeng Straits. |
| | Feb 20 | S-37 received orders to return to Soerabaja. |
| | Feb 21 | S-37 moored at the Soerabaja Navy Yard. Repairs began immediately, but the Japanese were moving on Java. S-37 lost her skipper to Spearfish, replaced by James R. Reynolds. |
| | Feb 26 | S-37 was ordered out. |
| | Feb 27 | S-37 moved out and headed North to patrol between Bawean Island and the Western channel into Soerabaja Roads. That night, the Battle of the Java Sea raged over the horizon.
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| | Feb 28 | S-37 closed a Japanese formation of 2 cruisers and 3 destroyers. A fight for depth control, however, precluded an attack. At mid-day, she sighted a 50-foot open boat from Dutch light cruiser De Ruyter, carrying 60 Allied survivors. |
| | Feb 28 | (Cont'd.) Unable to accommodate all of them, she approached to take on casualties. Finding none, S-37 took on the 2 American sailors among them, transferred provisions, dispatched enciphered messages on the boat's location to ABDA headquarters. |
| | Mar 6 | S-37 headed for Western Australia. |
| | Mar 11 | S-37 was clear of the East Indies. |
| | Mar 19 | S-37 arrived at Fremantle, Australia. |
| | Apr 1 | S-37 continued on to Brisbane, Australia, where she joined Task Force 42 and, after a desperately needed 6 week overhaul, departed for her 5th war patrol. |
| | Jun 22 | Clearing Moreton Bay, she was in the Bismarck Islands by the end of the month, and, after patrolling in St. George Channel, she moved toward New Hanover. |
| | Jul 7 | S-37 shifted back to the New Britain coast to patrol in the Lambert Point area. |
| | Jul 8 | S-37 sighted a Japanese merchantman escorted by a submarine chaser. Closing, she fired 3 torpedoes. Three explosions followed, sinking the 2776 ton Tenzan Maru. |
| | Jul 9 | S-37 patrolled between Dyaul and New Hanover. |
| | Jul 10 | S-37 moved into the New Hanover-Massau traffic lanes. |
| | Jul 11 | S-37 closed the New Ireland coast and continued south. For the next 2 days, she operated in the Rabaul area, then headed for Cape St. George and Australia. |
| | Jul 20 | S-37 sighted Cape Moreton Light. |
| | Jul 21 | S-37 moored alongside the submarine tender USS Griffin (AS-13) in Brisbane, Australia harbor.
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| | Aug 17 | S-37 conducted her 6th war patrol, a defensive patrol in the Savo Island area in support of the Guadalcanal campaign. |
| | Sep 2 | S-37 scored her only hit of the patrol when she damaged the last destroyer in a column of four which was steaming to the north of Savo. |
| | Sep 6 | S-37 moved into the Russell Islands, whence she departed the Solomon Islands and headed back to Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Sep 13 | S-37 arrived at Brisbane, Australia. |
| | Oct 19 | S-37 cleared Brisbane, Australia harbor for the last time. |
| | Oct 23 | S-37 arrived at Noumea, New Caledonia. After refueling, she served on picket line station in defense of that base. |
| | Nov 5 | S-37 headed for Pearl Harbor. From Pearl Harbor, HI. S-37 continued to San Diego, CA. She overhauled during the winter of 1943. She remained at San Diego for the remainder of her career, employed as an antisubmarine warfare training ship through 1944. |
| 1945 | Feb 6 | Decommissioned. |
| | Feb 20 | S-37 was sunk as a target for aerial bombing off Imperial Beach, San Diego, CA. |
| | Feb 23 | Struck from the Naval Register. |