USS Holland (SS-1)

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USS Holland (SS-1) was the United States Navy's first submarine, although not its first underwater watercraft, which was the 1775 submersible Turtle.

Design and construction

Rough sketch of Holland (not to scale: Length 64' Beam 10')

The boat was originally laid down as Holland VI at the Crescent Shipyard, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, for John Philip Holland's, Holland Torpedo Boat Company. She was launched on 17 May 1897. She was acquired by the US Navy, on 11 April 1900, and commissioned, on 12 October 1900.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Holland was built at former Navy Lieutenant Lewis Nixon's Crescent Shipyard, of Elizabeth, New Jersey for John Holland's Holland Torpedo Boat Company, which became the Electric Boat company in 1899.Template:Sfn The vessel was built under the supervision of John Philip Holland, who designed the vessel and her details. HollandTemplate:'s keel was laid at Nixon's Crescent Shipyard with both men present. The two men worked together using many of John Holland's proven concepts and patents to make the submarine a reality, each man complementing the other's contributions to the development of the modern submarine. John Holland was the inventor for US Patent 702,729 for the design of a submarine boat. Testing and training first took place at the Holland Torpedo Boat Station from 1899 to 1900.Template:Sfn Important contributions were also made by Arthur L. Busch (or Du Busc), Crescent's superintendent.

Holland VI included many features that submarines of the early 20th century would exhibit, albeit in later, more advanced forms. There was a conning tower from which the boat, and her weapons, could be directed. Also, she had all the necessary ballast and trim tanks to make precise changes in depth and attitude underwater. Her crew was six men and maximum diving depth was Template:Convert.Template:Sfn

For armament, she had a reloadable 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tube with three Whitehead Mark 2 torpedoes and an Template:Cvt pneumatic dynamite gun in the bow (the dynamite gun's projectiles were called "aerial torpedoes").Template:Sfn A second dynamite gun in the stern was removed in 1900, to make room for an improved engine exhaust, prior to delivery to the Navy.Template:Sfn

She had both an internal combustion engine (specifically, a 4-stroke Otto gasoline engine of Template:Cvt) for running on the surface and charging batteries, and an Electro Dynamic electric motor of Template:Cvt for submerged operation, with one shaft.Template:Sfn A 66-cell Exide battery powered the electric motor when submerged. This allowed speeds of Template:Cvt surfaced and Template:Cvt submerged. Surfaced range was Template:Cvt at 6 knots, while submerged range was Template:Cvt at Template:Cvt.Template:Sfn There is significant variation in references as to the vessel's horsepower and speed, for example, the Register of Ships of the U. S. Navy gives horsepower figures of Template:Cvt surfaced and Template:Cvt submerged, with Template:Cvt surfaced and Template:Cvt submerged.Template:Sfn

Service history

Holland VI eventually proved her worthiness as a warship and was ultimately purchased by the US government for the sum of $150,000, on 11 April 1900. She was considered to be the first truly successful craft of her type.Template:By whom The United States Government soon ordered more submarines from Holland's company, which were to be known as the Template:Sclass. These became America's first fleet of underwater naval vessels.

USS Holland (SS-1) from Scientific American 1898. The muzzle door of the bow dynamite gun is open.

Holland VI was modified after her christening, and was renamed United States Submarine Torpedo Boat Holland (Submarine-1) when she was commissioned by the US Navy on 12 October 1900, at Newport, Rhode Island.Template:Sfn

During her commissioned life in the Navy, Holland did not carry the hull designation SS-1. The designation system currently in use was placed into Naval Regulations, on 17 July 1920.Template:Sfn Holland would never been referred to as SS-1, while in service, she would have been designated Submarine-1, or simply S-1, under the system in place between 1895 and 1920. Most historians, including official Navy sources,Template:Sfn have retroactively applied both the prefix USS and the designation SS-1 to avoid confusion.

Holland was the first commissioned submarine in the US NavyTemplate:Sfnand is the first of the unbroken line of submarines in the Navy. She was the fourth submarine to be owned by the Navy, however. The first submarine was Propeller (also known as Template:USS), the second was Intelligent Whale and the third was Template:USS, an experimental submarine, built in 1895, which is not to be confused with Template:USS.

Holland under construction, 1900

On 16 October 1900, in order to be kept serviceable throughout the winter, Holland left Newport, under tow of the tug Template:USS for Annapolis, Maryland,Template:Sfn where she was used to train midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy, as well as officers and enlisted men ordered there to receive training vital in preparing for the operation of other submarines being built for the Fleet.Template:Sfn

Holland proved valuable for experimental purposes in collecting data for submarines under construction or contemplation. Her Template:Cvt surface run, from Annapolis to Norfolk, from 8–10 January 1901, provided useful data on her performance underway over an extended period.Template:Sfn

Holland, briefly in 1899, on trials,Template:Sfn and five Plunger-class Holland-type submarines, were based in New Suffolk, New York, on the North Fork of Long Island, from 1899 to 1905, prompting the hamlet to claim to be the first submarine base in the United States.Template:Sfn

Except for the period from 15 June to 1 October 1901, which was passed training cadets at the Naval Torpedo Station, Newport, Rhode Island, Holland remained at Annapolis, as a training submarine until 17 July 1905, when she was decommissioned.Template:Sfn

Fate

Holland finished her career in reserve at Norfolk. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 21 November 1910.Template:Sfn This revolutionary submarine was sold as scrap to Henry A. Hitner & Sons, of Philadelphia, on 18 June 1913, for $100. Her purchaser was required to put up $5,000 bond as assurance that the submarine would be broken up and not used as a ship.Template:Sfn

About 1915, the hulk of Holland, stripped of her external fittings, was sold to Peter J. Gibbons. As of October 1916, she was on display in Philadelphia.<ref>Ward County Independent, 26 October 1916. pg. 1.</ref> In May 1917, she was moved to the Bronx, New York, as a featured attraction at the Bronx International Exposition of Science, Arts and Industries.<ref>New York Tribune. 25 May 1917.</ref>

Holland was on display for several years in Paterson, New Jersey, until in 1930, she was sold as scrap to the Brooklyn Navy yard,Template:Sfn and in 1932 was scrapped.Template:Sfn

See also

References

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Bibliography

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Further reading

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|CitationClass=web }} This site also contains information on Elihu B. Frost, Arthur L. Busch, Frank Cable, Lawrence York Spear, Isaac Rice etc.

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|CitationClass=web }} This site attempts to further explain the events that took place while John P. Holland's company was being formed.

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