View source for USS F-4

{{Short description|F-class submarine of the U.S. Navy, in service from 1912 to 1915}}
{{redirect|USS Skate (SS-23)|other ships|USS Skate}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2025}}

{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= USS F-4 (SS-23).jpg
|Ship caption= USS ''F-4'', ex-''Skate'', {{circa}} 1913-1915
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country= United States
|Ship flag= {{USN flag|1915}}
|Ship name= ''Skate''
|Ship namesake= The [[Skate (fish)|skate]]
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder= [[The Moran Company]], [[Seattle]], Washington
|Ship laid down= 21 August 1909 
|Ship launched= 6 January 1912
|Ship sponsor= Mrs. Manson Franklin Backus
|Ship commissioned= 3 May 1913 
|Ship decommissioned= 
|Ship struck= 31 August 1915
|Ship renamed= ''F-4'' (Submarine No.23), 17 November 1911
|Ship identification=* [[Hull classification symbol#Submarine type|Hull symbol]]: SS-23 (17 July 1920)
*[[Maritime call sign|Call sign]]: NSO
*{{ICS|November}}{{ICS|Sierra}}{{ICS|Oscar}}
|Ship fate= [[Foundered]], 25 March 1915
|Ship notes= Raised, 29 August 1915, but not placed back in service
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption= {{sfn|Priolo}}
|Ship class=[[United States F-class submarine|F-class]] [[submarine]]
|Ship displacement=* {{cvt|330|LT|t|0}} surfaced
* {{cvt|400|LT|t|0}} submerged
|Ship length= {{cvt|142|ft|6|in}}
|Ship beam= {{cvt|15|ft|5|in}}
|Ship draft= {{cvt|12|ft|2|in}}
|Ship power=* {{cvt|780|hp|0}} diesel
* {{cvt|620|hp|0}} electric
|Ship propulsion=* 2 × [[New London Ship and Engine Company|NELSECO]] [[diesel engine]]s
*2 × [[Electro-Dynamic Company|Electro Dynamic]] [[electric motor]]s
*2 × 60-[[electrochemical cell|cell]] [[battery (electrical)|batteries]]
*2 × [[Propellers]]
|Ship speed=* {{cvt|13.5|kn|lk=in}} surfaced
* {{cvt|11.5|kn}} submerged
|Ship range=* {{cvt|2300|nmi}} at {{cvt|11|kn}} surfaced
* {{cvt|100|nmi}} at {{convert|5|kn}} submerged
|Ship test depth= {{cvt|200|ft}}
|Ship capacity= {{cvt|11500|USgal}} fuel
|Ship complement=* 1 officers
* 21 enlisted
|Ship armament=* 4 × [[American 18 inch torpedo|18 inch (450 mm)]] [[Bow (watercraft)|bow]] [[torpedo tube]]s (4 [[torpedo]]es)
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''USS ''Skate/F-4'' (SS-23)''', also known as "Submarine No. 22", was an [[United States F-class submarine|F-class]] [[submarine]] in the [[United States Navy]] (USN). She was the first ship of the [[United States Navy]] to be named for the [[Skate (fish)|skate]], though she was renamed ''F-4'' prior to launching. [[Ship commissioning|Commissioned]] in 1913, she operated in the [[Pacific Ocean]], until she sank accidentally in 1915, the first commissioned submarine of the US Navy to be lost at sea.

==Design==
The F-class boats had an [[length overall|overall length]] of {{cvt|142|ft|7|in|1}}, a [[beam (nautical)|beam]] of {{cvt|15|ft|5|in|1}}, and a mean [[draft (ship)|draft]] of {{cvt|12|ft|2|in|1}}. They [[displacement (ship)|displaced]] {{cvt|330|LT|lk=in}} on the surface and {{cvt|400|LT|t}} submerged with a diving depth of {{cvt|200|ft|1}}. The F-class submarines had a crew of 1 officer and 21 enlisted men.{{sfn|Friedman|1995|p=306}}

{{multiple image
| align = left
| image1 = US Navy F-Class Plans-1 1910.jpg
| width1 = 200
| alt1 = 
| caption1 = 
| image2 = US Navy F-Class Plans-2 1910.jpg
| width2 = 225
| alt2 = 
| caption2 = 
| footer = Plans for the F-class submarines of the US Navy
}}

For surface running, the boats were powered by two {{convert|390|bhp|lk=in|0|adj=on}} [[New London Ship and Engine Company|NELSECO]] [[diesel engine]]s, each driving one [[propeller shaft]]. When submerged each [[propeller]] was driven by a {{convert|310|hp|0|adj=on}} [[electric motor]]. They could reach {{cvt|14|kn|lk=in}} on the surface and {{cvt|11.25|kn}} underwater. On the surface, the boats had a range of {{cvt|2500|nmi|lk=in}} at {{cvt|11|kn}}{{sfn|Friedman|1995|p=306}} and {{cvt|100|nmi}} at {{cvt|5|kn}} submerged.{{sfn|Gardiner|Gray|1985|p=127}}

The F-class submarines were armed with four [[American 18-inch torpedo|18-inch (450 mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s in the bow, no reloads were carried.{{sfn|Gardiner|Gray|1985|p=127}}

==Construction==
''Skate''{{'}}s [[keel]] was [[laid down]] on 21 August 1909, by [[The Moran Company]], of [[Seattle]], Washington. She was renamed ''F-4'' on 17 November 1911, and [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 6 January 1912, [[Ship sponsor|sponsored]] by Mrs. Manson Franklin Backus,{{sfn|Cressman|2020}} wife of the successful Seattle business man and banker Manson Franklin Backus.{{sfn|Catholic|1933|p=3}} ''F-4'' was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 3 May 1913.{{sfn|Cressman|2020}}

==Service history==
Joining the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, ''F-4'' participated in the development operations of that group along the [[West Coast of the United States|West Coast]] in 1913 and into 1914. In August 1914, all four F-class submarines were transferred to duty in the [[Territory of Hawaii]], the first submarines to operate from Hawaii, the boats towed to their new operating area by [[armored cruiser]]s.{{sfn|Cressman|2020}} The facilities at [[Pearl Harbor]] were still under construction at the time, so the submarines were based at rented pier space in [[Honolulu]].{{sfn|Hedman|Johnston|2025}}

During training maneuvers off the entrance to [[Honolulu Harbor]] on 25 March 1915, ''F-4'' suffered a casualty and sank to the [[Seabed|bottom]] {{cvt|1.5|mi}} from the harbor, coming to rest at a depth of {{convert|51|fathom|ft m|lk=in}}.{{sfn|Cressman|2020}} Upon noticing that ''F-4'' had failed to return on time, Navy authorities at Honolulu began efforts to locate her. One [[Underwater diving|diver]] from her [[sister ship]] {{USS|F-1}}, Chief [[Gunner's Mate]] , made numerous deep dives during the search phase without a diving suit or weights, with just a [[diving helmet]] and breast plate perched on his shoulders.{{sfn|Hedman|Johnston|2025a}} Eventually searchers located ''F-4'' on the bottom and determined that the [[pressure hull]] had [[Implosion (mechanical process)|imploded]], flooding the submarine and killing her crew. All 21 aboard perished.{{sfn|Cressman|2020}}

[[Electrician's Mate]] 3rd Class James Morton Hoggett, remained ashore when ''F-4'' got underway to stand duty as a pier watchman, responsible for receiving any important news that occurred ashore while ''F-4'' was at sea and relaying it to ''F-4''{{'}}s [[commanding officer]] upon the submarine's return, a common practice before ships had radios, as well as for looking after the submarine's supplies and gear left behind on the pier. He was ''F-4''{{'}}s only survivor.{{sfn|Hedman|Johnston|2025b}}

==Salvage and recovery==
[[File:USS F-4 1913.jpg|thumb|left|[[US Navy]] inspectors examining the implosion hole in ''F-4''{{'}}s [[Port (nautical)|port]] side in [[drydock]] at [[Honolulu, Hawaii|Honolulu]], late August or early September 1915. Note that the submarine is upside down in the drydock, in the position she was found on the ocean bottom.]]
The Navy determined that the submarine needed to be raised so that the crew could be recovered and the boat examined to determine a cause of her loss. An ambitious and technologically challenging diving and engineering effort began which set a new precedent in deep-water [[Marine salvage|salvage]].{{sfn|Hedman|Johnston|2025c}} Divers assisted in slinging lifting chains under the wreck's [[Hull (watercraft)|hull]], with the chains attached to six specially built lifting [[Float (nautical)|pontoons]]. Naval Constructor [[Lieutenant commander (United States)|Lieutenant Commander]] [[Julius A. Furer]], [[Rear admiral (United States)|Rear Admiral]] [[Charles Brainard Taylor Moore|C. B. T. Moore]], and [[Lieutenant (navy)|Lieutenant]] Charles Smith, led the demanding effort.{{sfn|Gates|2022|pp= 156, 177}} Navy diving expert [[Warrant officer (United States)#Navy|Chief Gunner]] George D. Stillson, surveyed the wreck and found the [[superstructure]] caved in and the hull filled with water.{{sfn|NYTimes|1915}}{{efn|name=fn1}}{{sfn|Hedman|Johnston|2025a}} One of the divers involved in the salvage operation was [[John Henry Turpin]], who was probably the first [[African Americans|African American]] to qualify as a US Navy Master Diver.{{sfn|Cox|2021}} After five and a half months of effort the submarine was raised and returned to [[dry dock]] in Honolulu on 29 August 1915. Only four of the dead could be identified; the 17 others were buried at [[Arlington National Cemetery]] in [[Arlington, Virginia|Arlington]], [[Virginia]].{{sfn|Arlington|2000}}

The investigating board subsequently conjectured that gradual leakage of [[battery acid]] onto the [[steel]] pressure hull below the forward battery well had weakened the hull and the [[Rivet|rivets]] that held the hull together. This permitted [[sea water]] to enter the battery compartment under submerged pressure. Subsequent post-salvage examination showed that the [[bilge]] suction valves in the battery tank had been accidentally fouled by [[tar]] pitch used to seal the battery well, rendering the crew unable to pump out the flooding seawater. This flooding in the forward battery well caused the crew to lose [[buoyancy]] control, and the submarine quickly sank below her [[Submarine depth ratings|crush depth]], with the hull imploding in the [[torpedo]] room.{{sfn|Hedman|Johnston|2025c}} Others believe that the bypassing of an unreliable magnetic [[reducer]] closed a [[Kingston valve]] in the forward [[ballast tank]], resulting in a delay. Based on other reported issues, there may also have been problems with the air lines supplying the [[ballast tank]].{{sfn|Searle|Curtis|2006}}

==Fate==
After the completion of the investigation useful equipment was stripped from the wreck and ''F-4'' was stricken from the [[Naval Vessel Register]] on 31 August 1915. She was removed from the dry dock in Honolulu Harbor, in early September 1915, so the other three F-class submarines, which had been rammed accidentally and lightly damaged by the Navy supply ship {{USS|Supply|1872|2}}, could be drydocked for repairs. ''F-4'' was moved, still hanging from the pontoons, to Pearl Harbor, where she bottomed in the shallow waters of the then-unused Magazine Loch on or about 25 November 1915. She was then disconnected from the pontoons and allowed to settle into the mud at the bottom of the loch. She remained there until 1940, when she was found to be in the way of expansion of the [[Naval Submarine Base Pearl Harbor]] pier facilities. The wreck of ''F-4'' was moved a few yards to the west and re-buried in a trench dug in the loch bottom near Submarine Base mooring S14, where it remains to this day.{{sfn|Hedman|Johnston|2025a}}

Wreck location: {{Coord|21.3581|-157.9418|display=inline}}

[[File:Francis Hughson Naval Portrait.jpg|thumb|Francis Hughson, Crew Member]]

==Notes==
{{notelist|refs=
{{efn|name=fn1|The cited newspaper article was technically incorrect, it was actually the pressure hull that had caved in.}}}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite web
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  |ref= {{sfnRef|Priolo}}
  }}
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* {{cite news
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  }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
{{commons category|USS F-4 (SS-23)}}
*{{navsource|08/08023}}

{{F class submarine}}
{{March 1915 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:F-4}}
[[Category:United States F-class submarines]]
[[Category:United States submarine accidents]]
[[Category:Lost submarines of the United States]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks in the Pacific Ocean]]
[[Category:Shipwrecks of Hawaii]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1915]]
[[Category:Ships built in Seattle]]
[[Category:1912 ships]]
[[Category:1915 in Hawaii]]