The Plunger class was an early class of United States Navy submarines, used primarily as training vessels for the newly formed "silent service" to familiarize navy personnel with the performance and operations of such craft. They were known as the "A-class" after being renamed to A-type designations (A-1 through A-7) on 17 November 1911. All except Plunger ended up being stationed in the Philippines, an American possession, prior to the outbreak of World War I. They were shipped there on colliers (coal-carrying ships). In some instances, this class of submarines is referred to as the Adder-class submarine, as USS Adder was the first boat of the class to be completed.[1]
History
The Plunger-class submarines were built at the beginning of the twentieth century largely as experimental vessels. This class of submarines was built at two different locations on both coasts of the United States. They were given alphanumeric hull classification symbols (SS-2, SS-3, etc.) on 17 July 1920, after all but Grampus (SS-4) and Pike (SS-6) had been decommissioned. All of the Plunger-class ships were decommissioned by 1921 and used as targets. They were stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 January 1922 and sold for scrap.[2]
Boats
USS Adder / A-2
| Designation: | Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 3, SS-3 | .jpg) |
| Builders: | Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 3 October 1900 |
| Launched: | 22 July 1901 (List) |
| Operator: |  United States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 12 January 1903 (List) |
| Decommissioned: | 12 December 1919 (List) |
| Fate: | Sunk as a target ship |
| Operations: | Torpedo testing, training, peace time patrol |
Plunger, Adder, Moccasin, Porpoise, and Shark.
USS Grampus / A-3
| Designation: | Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 3, SS-4 | .jpg) |
| Builders: | Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California |
| Laid down: | 10 December 1900 |
| Launched: | 31 July 1902 (List) |
| Operator: | United States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 28 May 1903 (List) |
| Decommissioned: | 25 July 1921 (List) |
| Fate: | Struck 16 January 1922 and sunk as a target ship |
| Operations: | San Francisco earthquake of 1906 relief efforts |
A 1912 view of the breech of the sole
torpedo tube of USS
Moccasin /
A-4. Two
torpedoes are on wooden skids in the foreground. The skids slid across the deck for loading.
USS Moccasin / A-4
| Designation: | Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 5, SS-5 | .jpg) |
| Builders: | Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 8 November 1900 |
| Launched: | 20 August 1901 (List) |
| Operator: | United States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 17 January 1903 (List) |
| Decommissioned: | 12 December 1919 (List) |
| Fate: | Target ship |
| Operations: | Training, trials, peacetime patrol |
USS Pike / A-5
| Designation: | Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 6, SS-6 | .jpg) |
| Builders: | Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California |
| Laid down: | 10 December 1900 |
| Launched: | 14 January 1903 (List) |
| Operator: | United States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 28 May 1903 (List) |
| Decommissioned: | 25 July 1921 (List) |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap 26 January 1922 |
| Operations: | San Francisco earthquake of 1906 recovery efforts, training & trials, harbor patrol |
USS Porpoise, A-6
| Designation: | Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 7, SS-7 | |
| Builders: | Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 13 December 1900 |
| Launched: | 23 September 1901 (List) |
| Operator: | United States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 19 September 1903 (List) |
| Decommissioned: | 12 December 1919 (List) |
| Fate: | Target ship |
| Operations: | Whiting experiment, other trials, harbor patrols |
USS Shark, A-7
| Designation: | Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 8, SS-8 | |
| Builders: | Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, New Jersey |
| Laid down: | 11 January 1901 |
| Launched: | 19 October 1901 (List) |
| Operator: | United States Navy |
| Commissioned: | 19 September 1903 (List) |
| Decommissioned: | 12 December 1919 (List) |
| Fate: | Target ship |
| Operations: | Torpedo and other trials, Manila Bay patrols |
See also
- List of United States Navy submarines
References
- ↑ Gardiner, p. 127
- ↑ Gardiner, p. 127
This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.
External links
