USS Adder (SS-3)

Adder running trials in Long Island Sound, 1903
Career (United States)
Name: USS Adder
Builder: Crescent Shipyard, Elizabeth, New Jersey
Laid down: 3 October 1900
Launched: 22 July 1901
Commissioned: 12 January 1903
Decommissioned: 12 December 1919
Struck: 16 January 1922
Fate: Sunk as target
General characteristics
Class and type:Plunger-class submarine
Displacement:107 long tons (109 t)
Length:64 ft (20 m)
Beam:12 ft (3.7 m)
Draft:11 ft (3.4 m)
Speed:8 kn (9.2 mph; 15 km/h) surfaced, 7 kn (8.1 mph; 13 km/h) submerged
Complement:7
Armament:1 × 18 in (460 mm) torpedo tube (3 torpedoes)

USS Adder (SS-3) (later renamed A-2), a Plunger-class submarine, was one of the earliest submarines used by the United States Navy. She was laid down on 3 October 1900 by the Crescent Shipyard, launched on 22 July 1901, and commissioned on 12 January 1903 at the Holland yard at New Suffolk, Ensign Frank L. Pinney in command.

Service history

After initial experimental duty at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Adder was towed to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard by the tug Peoria, arriving there on 4 December 1903. In January 1904, the submarine torpedo boat was assigned to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla. Placed out of commission on 26 July 1909, Adder was loaded onto the collier Caesar, and was transported to the Philippines, arriving on 1 October.

A crewman guiding one of the submarine's three torpedoes below deck through the torpedo loading hatch.

Recommissioned on 10 February 1910, she was assigned to duty with the 1st Submarine Division, Asiatic Torpedo Fleet. Over almost a decade, the submarine torpedo boat operated from Cavite and Olongapo, principally in training and experimental work. During this time, she was renamed on 17 November 1911, becoming simply A-2.

During World War I, she carried out patrols off the entrance to Manila Bay, and around the island of Corregidor. Decommissioned on 12 December 1919, A-2 (assigned the alphanumeric hull number SS-3 on 17 July 1920) was designated for use as a target on 24 September 1920. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 January 1922.

References

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.

External links