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37-515: USS O-3 (SS-64) was one of 16 O-class submarines built for the United States Navy during World War I. The O-class submarines were designed to meet a Navy requirement for coastal defense boats. The submarines had a length of 172 feet 3 inches (52.5 m) overall , a beam of 18 feet 1 inch (5.5 m) and a mean draft of 14 feet 5 inches (4.4 m). They displaced 521 long tons (529 t) on

74-650: A fire in her conning tower in December 1919. All six of the Lake design boats were decommissioned in July 1924, with five being scrapped in July 1930 under the terms of the London Naval Treaty . However, the decommissioned O-12 was leased back to Simon Lake for use in an Arctic expedition by Sir Hubert Wilkins . Disarmed, she was rebuilt with specialized Arctic exploration equipment and renamed Nautilus . After

111-721: A shipyard in Groton, Connecticut , a hull-fabrication and outfitting facility in Quonset Point, Rhode Island , and a design and engineering facility in New London , Connecticut. The company was founded in 1899 by Isaac Rice as the Electric Boat Company to build John Philip Holland 's submersible ship designs, which were developed at Lewis Nixon 's Crescent Shipyard in Elizabeth, New Jersey . Holland VI

148-436: Is the largest single shipbuilding contract in the service's history. The company builds the submarine along with Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding. The boats of Block IV Virginia s will cost less than Block III, as Electric Boat reduced the cost of the submarines by increasing efficiency in the construction process. The submarines of this type will build on the improvements to allow them to spend less time in

185-591: The Lake Torpedo Boat Company and differed considerably from the EB design. All had the same military characteristics and performance and thus were considered by the Navy to be the same class. The EB design boats had a spindle shaped hull with an axially mounted rudder and twin lateral mounted propeller shafts. The bow diving planes controlled depth with the stern diving planes (mounted laterally behind

222-556: The Naval Submarine Base New London , Connecticut . The looming war emergency forced the work to be rushed, and many of the eight O-class still needed thorough maintenance after being recommissioned. O-9 sank during deep submergence trials in June 1941, likely due to her poor material condition. Thirty-three of her crew were lost. In 1929–1930 the EB design O-class boats were modified for improved safety in

259-614: The "General Dynamics" name while the submarine-building operation reverted to the "Electric Boat" name. Electric Boat built the first nuclear submarine, USS  Nautilus , which was launched in January 1954, and the first ballistic missile submarine , USS  George Washington , in 1959. Submarines of the Ohio , Los Angeles , Seawolf , and Virginia classes were also constructed by Electric Boat. In 2002, EB conducted preservation work on Nautilus , preparing her for her berth at

296-588: The EB design were built by Fore River Shipyard , Quincy, Massachusetts . O-11 through O-13 were Lake design built by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut . Once again desirous of having submarines built at a west coast yard, the Navy got Lake to build the O-14 through O-16 at a sub-contractor named California Shipbuilding (formerly Craig Shipbuilding ), Long Beach, California . CALSHIP suffered from numerous management and production issues and all three boats assigned to them had to be towed up

333-671: The Navy to retain the old Mk 7 torpedo, solely for the use by these boats. All other 18-inch torpedoes prior to the 21-inch Mk 8 were discarded before WWII as a cost saving measure. During World War II, the seven remaining O boats were stationed at the New London Submarine Base and served as training platforms for the Submarine School. The last O-boat, USS  O-4 , was decommissioned in September 1945. O-4 had served for 27 years and was, at that time,

370-490: The Navy was also the yard's insurer, liable to compensate the company for losses and other mishaps. The concept of reimbursing General Dynamics under these conditions was initially considered "preposterous," in the words of Secretary of the Navy John Lehman , but the eventual legal basis of General Dynamics' reimbursement claims to the Navy for the company's poor workmanship included insurance compensation. Veliotis

407-698: The US Navy Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut where she now resides as a museum. Electric Boat's first submarine, Holland , was scrapped in 1932. From the mid-1970s to the present, EB has been one of only two submarine manufacturers in the United States, with the other being Newport News Shipbuilding in Virginia. In April 2014, EB was awarded a $ 17.8 billion contract with Naval Sea Systems Command for ten Block IV Virginia -class attack submarines. It

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444-688: The USN from 1918 through the end of World War II . Following the design trend of the day, these boats were scaled up versions of the preceding L class , reversing the fiscally created shrinkage in size of the N class . The O class were about 80 tons larger than the L class, with greater power and endurance for wider ranging patrols. Due to the American entry into World War I the O class were built much more rapidly than previous classes, and were all commissioned in 1918. O-1 through O-10 were designed by Electric Boat (EB), O-11 through O-16 were designed by

481-508: The angled-diving technique used by the EB design boats. Zero-angle diving proved to be unworkable and Lake used it here for the last time. His design for the follow-on R-class boats would abandon the method in favor of the EB angle-diving arrangement. Unusually, the Navy obtained a legal license to build two of the EB design boats at government owned Navy Yards: O-1 by Portsmouth Navy Yard , Kittery, Maine , and O-2 by Puget Sound Navy Yard , Bremerton, Washington . O-3 through O-10 of

518-620: The coast to the Mare Island Navy Yard north of San Francisco in Vallejo, California for completion. The class originally operated in the anti-submarine role off the United States' East Coast. Two of the boats, O-4 and O-6 , mistakenly came under fire from a British merchant ship in the Atlantic on 24 July 1918. The steamer scored six hits on O-4 ' s conning tower fairwater and pressure hull before her identity

555-459: The company built 74 submarines at the Groton plant, while Elco built nearly 400 PT boats , and Electric Boat ranked 77th among United States corporations in the value of World War II military production contracts. In 1952, Electric Boat was reorganized as General Dynamics Corporation under John Jay Hopkins . General Dynamics acquired Convair the following year, and the holding company assumed

592-725: The company designed submarines of the B, C, D, E, K, L, M, N, AA-1, O, R, and S classes. During the World War I era, the company and its subsidiaries (notably the Electric Launch Company, or Elco ) built 85 submarines via subcontractors and 722 submarine chasers for the US Navy, and 580 80-foot motor launches for the British Royal Navy. After the war, the US Navy did not order another submarine from Electric Boat until Cuttlefish in 1931. Cuttlefish

629-522: The conclusion of the expedition she was scuttled in a Norwegian fjord in November 1931 to keep within the provisions of the lease agreement, as the Navy no longer wanted her but didn't want the boat to fall into foreign hands. The EB design boats served well although O-5 was rammed by a cargo ship and sunk near the Panama Canal on 28 October 1923 with the loss of three crew members. All nine of

666-675: The delivery of several submarines being built at Electric Boat's shipyard. In some cases, the repairs resulted in practically dismantling and then rebuilding what had been a nearly completed submarine. The yard tried to pass the vast cost overruns directly on to the Navy, while Admiral Hyman G. Rickover demanded from Electric Boat's general manager P. Takis Veliotis that the yard make good on its "shoddy" workmanship. The Navy eventually settled with General Dynamics in 1981, paying out $ 634 million of $ 843 million in Los Angeles -class submarines cost-overrun and reconstruction claims. As it happened,

703-506: The event of sinking. This was work prompted by the loss of the S-4 in 1927. Two marker buoys were added fore and aft. In the event the submarine was stranded on the bottom the buoys could be released to show the submarine's position. A motor room escape hatch was also added, the motor room being the after most compartment. The tapered after dorsal skeg became a step as a result of these modifications. The 18-inch torpedo tubes of this class forced

740-416: The last of the EB designs with the cap. The Lake design used individual muzzle doors with hydro-dynamic shutters to seal the tubes, a feature that would become standard on all later USN submarines. These boats were big enough to have a semi-retractable 3-inch/23-caliber gun on the deck forward of the conning tower fairwater . This gun partially retracted into a vertical watertight cylinder that penetrated

777-399: The late 1950s. Three other yards ( Manitowoc , Mare Island , and Cramp ) produced submarines only during World War II. Several other yards ( New York Shipbuilding , Ingalls and Fore River Shipyard ) as well as Mare Island built submarines in the late 1950s through the early 1970s. Since 1974, only Electric Boat and Newport News have built submarines for the US Navy. During World War II,

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814-494: The longest serving submarine in the history of the US Navy. The 16 submarines of the O class were: Electric Boat (EB) design Lake Torpedo Boat Company design Electric Boat General Dynamics Electric Boat ( GDEB ) is a subsidiary of General Dynamics Corporation. It has been the primary builder of submarines for the United States Navy for more than 100 years. The company's main facilities are

851-400: The pressure hull into the forward battery compartment (EB design), or the control room (Lake design). When retracted the circular gun shield formed the top of the cylinder with only the barrel of the gun protruding above deck. The Lake design retained Simon Lake's trademark amidships diving planes, theoretically used to enable zero-angle (a.k.a. even-keel) diving. This was a marked contrast to

888-430: The propellers) controlling the boat's angle while submerged. The Lake design also had a spindle shaped hull, but the rudder was ventrally mounted under the flat shovel-shaped stern with the propeller shafts also exiting the hull ventrally. The EB design retained the semi-hemispherical rotating bow cap that covered the four 18-inch diameter torpedo tubes . Although a common features on the EB design, this would prove to be

925-818: The rights to build them under licensing contracts through the company; these included the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy, the Imperial Russian Navy, and the Royal Netherlands Navy . From 1907 to 1925 Electric Boat designed submarines for the US Navy and subcontracted their construction to the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts and other shipyards. During this era,

962-826: The ships had reached the Azores , the Armistice with Germany ended the fighting. After the war that had proved the worth of subs, O-3 sailed to New London, Connecticut , to train Submarine School students. Reclassified as a second line submarine on 25 July 1924 while at Coco Solo , Panama Canal Zone , and reverting to a first liner on 6 June 1928, the vessel remained at New London until she moved to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , to decommission on 6 June 1931. As American involvement in World War II became imminent, O-3 recommissioned at Philadelphia on 3 February 1941 and sailed to New London in June to train submarine personnel at

999-504: The submarine school there until war's end. She then steamed to Portsmouth, New Hampshire , to decommission on 11 September 1945. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 October 1945 and sold to John J. Duane Company, for scrapping on 4 September 1946. United States O-class submarine The United States Navy (USN)'s sixteen O-class coastal patrol submarines were built during World War I and served

1036-442: The surface and 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) underwater. On the surface, the O class had a range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km; 6,300 mi) at 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph). The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The O-class submarines were also armed with a single 3"/50 caliber deck gun . O-3

1073-467: The surface and 629 long tons (639 t) submerged. The O-class submarines had a crew of 29 officers and enlisted men. They had a diving depth of 200 feet (61.0 m). For surface running, the boats were powered by two 440- brake-horsepower (328 kW) diesel engines , each driving one propeller shaft . When submerged each propeller was driven by a 370-horsepower (276 kW) electric motor . They could reach 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph) on

1110-559: The surviving EB design boats were decommissioned into reserve status in 1931. The harsh economics of the Great Depression prevented proper pre-layup maintenance, and very little if any work was done on the boats during the nine years they laid in reserve at the Philadelphia Navy Yard . Eight of the boats ( O-1 had been scrapped in 1938) were refitted and recommissioned in 1941 to serve as training boats based at

1147-526: The yard. In 2019 EB received a contract with Naval Sea Systems Command to begin procuring materials for the Block V variant of the Virginia -class. This upgrade brings the Virginia payload module, which enables Tomahawk missiles to be carried by the submarine. In the early 1980s, structural welding defects had been covered up by falsified inspection records, and this led to significant delays and expenses in

USS O-3 - Misplaced Pages Continue

1184-617: Was discovered. O-4 suffered minor damage caused by shell splinters. The O-3 to O-10 formed part of the twenty-strong submarine force that left Newport, Rhode Island on 2 November 1918 for the Azores , but the task force was recalled after the Armistice was signed nine days later. The Lake design boats ( O-11 through O-16 ), built by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company and Craig Shipbuilding , suffered from electrical, structural, and mechanical problems. O-11

1221-512: Was immediately sent to the Philadelphia Navy Yard for a five-month overhaul. In October 1918, O-13 sank the patrol boat Mary Alice in a collision while she ( O-13 ) was submerged. O-15 also underwent a refit but was sent into reserve soon after before she went into service at Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone . This also involved another overhaul. O-16 also underwent a refit soon after commissioning and later suffered

1258-502: Was laid down on 2 December 1916 by Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts . She was launched on 27 September 1917, and commissioned on 13 June. The new submarine joined the Atlantic coastal patrol and kept watch for U-boats from Cape Cod to Key West, Florida . In November, she joined a 20-submarine contingent that departed Newport, Rhode Island , on 3 November for service in European waters. However, before

1295-559: Was subsequently indicted by a federal grand jury under racketeering and fraud charges in 1983 for demanding $ 1.3 million in kickbacks from a subcontractor. He escaped into exile and a life of luxury in his native Greece, where he remained a fugitive from justice. This is a list of submarines built at Electric Boat's Groton plant and does not include earlier submarines built by other companies under contract to Electric Boat. General Dynamics Electric Boat built every unique US Navy submarine after 1931, excepting Halibut  (SSGN-587) and

1332-496: Was the first submarine built at EB's plant in Groton, Connecticut which has been its primary submarine manufacturing facility ever since. EB was the lead yard for several classes of submarines ( Perch , Salmon , Sargo , Tambor , Gar , Mackerel and Gato ) prior to World War II. Starting in the early 1930s, EB was one of only two major US submarine manufacturers (the other being the Portsmouth Navy Yard ) until

1369-525: Was the first submarine that this shipyard built, which became USS  Holland when it was commissioned into the United States Navy on April 11, 1900—the first submarine to be officially commissioned. The success of Holland VI created a demand for follow-up models (A class or Plunger class ) that began with the prototype submersible Fulton built at Electric Boat. Some foreign navies were interested in Holland's latest submarine designs, and so purchased

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