USS Moccasin (SS-5)

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USS Moccasin/A-4 (SS-5), also known as "Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 5", was one of seven Template:Sclasss built for the United States Navy (USN) in the first decade of the 20th century. Named for the Moccasin. She served as a training boat before being transported to the Philippines for harbor defense during WWI.

Design

File:EB1911 Ship Fig. 126 -US 'Adder'.png

Plan of Plunger-class. A, storage batteries; B, gas-engine; C, dynamo and motor; D, water-tight compartments; E, main ballast tanks; F, air-flasks; G, gasolene tank; H, expulsion tube.

The Template:Sclasss were enlarged and improved versions of the preceding Holland, the first submarine in the USN. They had a length of Template:Cvt overall, a beam of Template:Cvt and a mean draft of Template:Cvt. They displaced Template:Cvt on the surface and Template:Cvt submerged. The Plunger-class boats had a crew of one officer and six enlisted men. They had a diving depth of Template:Convert.Template:Sfn

For surface running, they were powered by one Template:Convert gasoline engine that drove the single propeller. When submerged the propeller was driven by a Template:Convert electric motor.Template:Sfn The boats could reach Template:Cvt on the surface and Template:Cvt underwater.Template:Sfn

The Plunger-class boats were armed with one Template:Convert torpedo tube in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of five torpedoes.Template:Sfn

Construction

Moccasin was laid down on 8 November 1900, in Elizabethport, New Jersey, at the Crescent Shipyard, by Lewis Nixon, a subcontractor for the Holland Torpedo Boat Company, New York City; launched on 20 August 1901; sponsored by a Mrs. Rice; and commissioned on 17 January 1903, at the Holland Torpedo Boat Station, at New Suffolk, New York.Template:Sfn

Service history

File:USS A-4 - NH 57729-A.jpeg

A 1912 view of the breech of the sole torpedo tube of A-4. Two torpedoes are on wooden skids in the foreground. The skids slid across the deck for loading.

Assigned to duty at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Moccasin operated locally on principally training and experimental activities until assigned to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at Norfolk on 15 June 1904, in which unit she remained inactive for the next half decade.Template:Sfn

Grounding

The submarine ran aground in North Carolina's outer banks in late 1903, and was several miles away from the Wright Brothers' inaugural flight on 17 December 1903.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Transfer to Asiatic Fleet

On 20 July 1909, the submarine torpedo boat was loaded onto the collier Template:USS, which sailed soon thereafter for the Philippines. MoccasinTemplate:'s sister ship, Template:USS, was on board as deck cargo as well, lashed to the auxiliary's forward well deck. Arriving at Olongapo, on 1 October, Moccasin was launched on 7 October. Recommissioned on 10 February 1910, she was assigned to the First Submarine Division, Asiatic Torpedo Fleet, based in the Manila area.Template:Sfn

Early in the period she was operating with the Asiatic Fleet, Moccasin was renamed A-4, on 17 November 1911. During World War I, like her sister ships, she patrolled the entrance to Manila Bay, and convoyed ships moving out of local waters.Template:Sfn

Fate

Later placed in reserve, A-4 was decommissioned at Cavite, on 12 December 1919. Designated as a target vessel, A-4, which had been assigned the identification number SS-5 on 17 July 1920, was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 January 1922.Template:Sfn

Bibliography

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External links

• Template:Navsource
• USS Moccasin Photos at Naval Historical Center