USS B-1 (SS-10)

For other ships of the same name, see USS Viper.
USS B-1
Career
Name: USS Viper
Builder: Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts,
Cost: $200,957.48
Launched: 30 March 1907
Commissioned: 18 October 1907
Decommissioned: 1 December 1921
Renamed: B-1, 17 November 1911
Fate: Sunk as a target, 1922[1]
General characteristics
Class and type:B-class submarine
Displacement:145 long tons (147 t) surfaced
173 long tons (176 t) submerged[1]
Length:82 ft 6 in (25.15 m)
Beam:12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Draft:10 ft 6 in (3.20 m)
Installed power:250 hp (190 kW) (gasoline engines)
150 hp (110 kW) (electric motors)
Propulsion:Gasoline engines
Electric motors
1 × shaft[1]
Speed:9 kn (10 mph; 17 km/h) surfaced
8 kn (9.2 mph; 15 km/h) submerged[1]
Complement:10 officers and enlisted
Armament:2 × 18 in (460 mm) bow torpedo tubes (2 × torpedoes)[1]

USS B-1 (SS-10) was a B-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down by Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts, under a subcontract from Electric Boat Company of New Suffolk, Long Island, as Viper, making her the third ship of the United States Navy to be named for the viper.

Viper was launched on 30 March 1907 sponsored by Mrs. Lawrence York Spear, and commissioned on 18 October 1907 with Lieutenant D. C. Gingham in command. She reported to the Second Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet.

Service history

Viper cruised along the Atlantic coast on training and experimental exercises until going into reserve at Charleston Navy Yard on 30 November 1909. Recommissioned on 15 April 1910, she served with the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet until assigned to the Reserve Torpedo Group at Charleston Navy Yard on 9 May 1911. On 17 November, her name was changed to B-1.

In April 1914, B-1 was towed to Norfolk, Virginia, and later loaded aboard the collier Hector for transport to the Philippine Islands. Arriving at Olongapo, Luzon on 24 March 1915, B-1 was launched from the deck of Hector on 15 April and recommissioned two days later.

B-1 was assigned to the First Submarine Division, Torpedo Flotilla, Asiatic Fleet on 19 May 1915 and later served with the Second Submarine Division in Manila Bay. On 1 December 1921, B-1 was decommissioned at Cavite, Philippine Islands, and subsequently used as a target.

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. Illustrated Encyclopedia of Twentieth Century Weapons and Warfare (London: Phoebus, 1978), Volume 24, p.2578, "Viper".

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entries can be found here and here.

External links