United States H-class submarine

The United States H-class submarines were Electric Boat design EB26A and EB26R design coastal patrol submarines used by the United States Navy.

The first three submarines of the class were laid down in March–April 1911, as , , and , and were renamed H-1, H-2, and H-3, while still under construction on 17 November 1911, as part of a forcewide submarine redesignation. They were commissioned in December 1913/January 1914.

In 1915, the Imperial Russian Navy had ordered 18 H-class submarines built to a modified EB602 design. Ordered from the Electric Boat Company, they were to be built in Canada, at a temporary shipyard near Barnet, Vancouver, British Columbia, to avoid US neutrality concerns, which had derailed the delivery of ten similar submarines to the British. The shipyard was owned by the British Pacific Construction and Engineering Company. Twelve were delivered, and served as the American Holland-class submarines, but the 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 their construction yard. All six were purchased by the US Navy on 20 May 1918, and assembled at Puget Sound Navy Yard, before being commissioned as H-4 to H-9, in late 1918.

H-1 ran aground and was wrecked off the coast of Mexico, on 12 March 1920, while the remaining eight submarines were decommissioned in late 1922, and laid up in the Reserve Fleet. Finally stricken from the Navy List in 1930, they were sold for scrap in 1931 and 1933.

Design These vessels included some features intended to increase underwater speed that were standard on US submarines of this era, including a small conning tower and fairwater, and a rotating cap over the torpedo tube muzzles. For extended surface runs, the small fairwater and its open bridge was augmented with a temporary piping-and-canvas structure. US Navy tactical employment of these submarines in this era did not require crash dives, so the considerable time it took to dismantle and store below the temporary bridge structure was not considered a liability. Experience in World War I showed that the piping and canvas structure was inadequate in the North Atlantic weather, and USN submarines serving overseas in that war, E, K, and L-classes, had the forward structure of the fairwater modified with a metal "chariot" shield. Starting in 1918-1919, with lessons learned from overseas experience, US submarines had bridges more suited to surfaced operations in rough weather.

The streamlined, rotating torpedo tube muzzle cap eliminated the drag that muzzle holes would otherwise cause. In the stowed position, the submarine appears to have no torpedo tubes, as the holes in the cap are covered by the bow stem. This feature remained standard on Electric Boat designed submarines through the O-class, with the exception of the L-class and the . The L and M-class boats pioneered the use of shutter-style doors for the torpedo tubes, which then became the standard for all USN submarines starting with the S-class patrol submarines of the 1920's.

The EB26A design, originally built for the USN, H-1 to H-3, had a watertight bulkhead separating the torpedo room from the forward battery compartment. The six boats of the H-4 to H-9 group were built to the EB602L design, EB26R for the USN, for export to Russia. When seized by the US, they were completed to that slightly modified design. The biggest difference was that they did not have the bulkhead between the torpedo room and the forward battery, essentially making it one large compartment.

Since the acquisition of the H-4 to H-9 group was delayed, other types had already been acquired by the USN, so these last six boats were assigned hull numbers that fell into the middle of the S-class (147-152).

Boats in class The following ships of the class were constructed:

+ Construction data Ship name Builder Laid down Launched Renamed Rename date Fate Seawolf Submarine No. 28 Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California 22 March 1911 6 May 1913 1 December 1913 17 November 1911 SS-28 17 July 1920 Grounded, 12 March 1920, sold for scrapping, June 1920 Nautilus Submarine No. 29 23 March 1911 4 June 1913 23 October 1922 SS-29 Sold for scrapping, 1 September 1931 Garfish Submarine No. 30 The Moran Company, Seattle, Washington 3 April 1911 3 July 1913 16 January 1914 SS-30 Sold for scrapping, 14 September 1931 Submarine No. 147 Puget Sound Navy Yard, Bremerton, Washington 12 May 1918 9 October 1918 24 October 1918 15 August 1919 SS-147 Submarine No. 148 24 September 1918 30 September 1918 20 October 1922 SS-148 Sold for scrapping, 28 November 1933 Submarine No. 149 14 May 1918 26 August 1918 9 September 1918 23 October 1922 SS-149 Submarine No. 150 15 May 1918 17 October 1918 24 October 1918 SS-150 Submarine No. 151 25 May 1918 14 November 1918 18 November 1918 17 November 1922 SS-151 Submarine No. 152 1 June 1918 23 November 1918 25 November 1918 3 November 1922 SS-152

See also American Holland-class submarine

References

Bibliography

United States H-class submarine

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