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Photo # 80-G-424463:  USS Porpoise underway in harbor, circa 1903-1906

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- U.S. NAVY SHIPS --

USS Porpoise (Submarine # 7, later SS-7), 1903-1922.
Later renamed A-6

USS Porpoise, a 107-ton Plunger (later A-1) class submarine, was built at Elizabethport, New Jersey. Commissioned in September 1903, she spent about a year on experimental torpedo firing duties at Newport, Rhode Island, then went to the New York Navy Yard for over two years of repairs and modifications. Porpoise was again active from March 1907 until April 1908, serving for some of this time with the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland.

Between late April and early July 1908 Porpoise was transported from New York to the Philippines on board the collier Caesar. She began commissioned service with the Asiatic Fleet in November 1908, operating as part of the defenses of the Philippine Islands and performing experimental work. Porpoise was renamed A-6 in November 1911. Following World War I employment patrolling the entrance to Manila Bay, she was inactive from December 1918 and was formally decommissioned a year later. When the Navy's hull number system was implemented in July 1920, A-6 was designated SS-7. Later used as a target, the old submarine was striken from the list of Naval vessels in January 1922.

This page features, or provides links to, all the views we have related to USS Porpoise, which was renamed A-6 in 1911.

For other images of this submarine, see:

  • Porpoise (Submarine # 7, later SS-7). Renamed A-6 in 1911 -- Views taken in 1908 and later.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: 80-G-424463

    USS Porpoise
    (Submarine # 7)

    Underway in harbor, circa 1903-1906.
    Note the officer steering the submarine, and the 13-star "boat" ensign she is flying.

    Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.

    Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 600 pixels

    Reproductions of this image may also be available through the National Archives photographic reproduction system.

     
    Photo #: NH 42643

    Electric Boat Company/Holland Torpedo Boat Company facility, New Suffolk, Long Island, New York


    Photographed circa 1902, with two torpedo boats tied up to the breakwater and USS Porpoise (Submarine # 7) in the foreground.

    Courtesy of the Whitaker Collection, Southold Library, Southold, Long Island, N.Y., 1957.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 129KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 45937

    Electric Boat Company/Holland Torpedo Boat Company facility, New Suffolk, Long Island, New York


    Submarines in the facility basin, circa 1903.
    Boats in the front group are (from left to right):
    USS Plunger (Submarine # 2);
    USS Porpoise (Submarine # 7); and
    USS Adder (Submarine # 3).
    In the background, by the breakwater are (left-right):
    USS Shark (Submarine # 8) and
    USS Moccasin (Submarine # 5).
    Photographed by Legendre & Levick, New York.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 107KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 98835-KN (color)

    USS Shark (Submarine # 8), at left,
    and
    USS Porpoise (Submarine # 7)

    On cradles at the New York Navy Yard, circa 1905.
    Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card by the American Colortype Company.

    Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Commander Theodore G. Ellyson, USN.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 138KB; 740 x 495 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 101199-KN (color)

    USS Shark (Submarine # 8), at left,
    and
    USS Porpoise (Submarine # 7)

    On cradles at the New York Navy Yard, circa 1905.
    Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card by Edward H. Mitchell, San Francisco, California. It was mailed on 8 July 1908 as an advertisement for Alfred S. Witter, photographer with offices at Seattle, Waterville and Bridgeport, Washington.

    Donation of Staff Sergeant and Mrs. Ralph Massee, USAF (Retired), via Captain Otto Finley, USN (Retired), 1986.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 114KB; 740 x 485 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 70936

    USS Shark
    (Submarine # 8), at left,
    and
    USS Porpoise (Submarine # 7)

    On cradles, with crewmen posing on deck, circa 1905.
    Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card.
    Though the original postcard states that the view was taken at the Newport Training Station, Rhode Island, it was actually photographed at the New York Navy Yard.

    Courtesy Charles L. Price, Jr., Alexandria, Virginia, 1970.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 500 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 85772

    USS Shark
    (Submarine # 8), at left,
    and
    USS Porpoise (Submarine # 7)

    On cradles with crewmen posed on deck, at the New York Navy Yard, circa 1905.
    Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card.

    Courtesy Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Retired), 1977.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 120KB; 740 x 580 pixels

     

    For other images of this submarine, see:

  • Porpoise (Submarine # 7, later SS-7). Renamed A-6 in 1911 -- Views taken in 1908 and later.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 23 September 2003