USS H-4 underway, circa 1922 |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS H-4 |
| Ordered: | by the Imperial Russian Navy, 1915 |
| Builder: | Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington |
| Laid down: | 12 May 1918 |
| Launched: | 9 October 1918 |
| Commissioned: | 24 October 1918 |
| Decommissioned: | 25 October 1922 |
| Reclassified: | SS-147, 15 July 1920 |
| Struck: | 26 February 1931 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping, 14 September 1931 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | H-class submarine |
| Displacement: | 358 long tons (364 t) surfaced 467 long tons (474 t) submerged |
| Length: | 150 ft 4 in (45.82 m) |
| Beam: | 15 ft 10 in (4.83 m) |
| Draft: | 12 ft 5 in (3.78 m) |
| Installed power: | 950 hp (710 kW) (diesel engines) 600 hp (450 kW) (electric motors) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × New London Ship & Engine Co. diesel engines 2 × Electro Dynamic Co. electric motors 2 × shafts |
| Speed: | 14 kn (16 mph; 26 km/h) surfaced 10.5 kn (12.1 mph; 19.4 km/h) submerged |
| Test depth: | 200 ft (61 m) |
| Complement: | 25 officers and men |
| Armament: | 4 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tubes (8 torpedoes) |
The Imperial Russian Navy ordered 18 H-class submarines from the Electric Boat Company in 1915. Eleven were delivered, and served as the American Holland class submarines, but shipment of the final six was held up pending the outcome of the Russian Revolution of 1917, and the boats were stored in knockdown condition at Vancouver, British Columbia. All six were purchased by the United States Navy on 20 May 1918 and assembled at Puget Sound Navy Yard.
H-4 was launched on 9 October 1918, and commissioned on 24 October 1918 with Lieutenant Ralph O. Davis in command.
Stationed at San Pedro, California — first with Submarine Division 6 (SubDiv 6) and then SubDiv 7 — H-4 participated in various battle and training exercises along the West Coast with her sister H-boats. These exercises were interrupted by occasional patrol duty off Santa Catalina Island and periodic overhauls at Mare Island.
In company with the two sub divisions and tender Beaver, H-4 sailed from San Pedro on 25 July 1922 and reached Norfolk, Virginia on 14 September via Magdalena Bay, Corinto, and Coco Solo. She decommissioned there on 25 October. H-4 was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 26 February 1931 and sold for scrap on 14 September.
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