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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
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Photo # NH 45614:  USS Narwhal underway, circa 1909

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

USS Narwhal (Submarine # 17, later SS-17), 1909-1922. Renamed D-1 in 1911

USS Narwhal, first of a class of three 288-ton coastal submarines built at Quincy, Massachusetts, was commissioned in November 1909. She mainly operated along the U.S. East Coast during her entire career, but deployed to the the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico in 1913 and 1914. In November 1911 as part of a general renaming of the U.S. Navy's submarines, Narwhal became USS D-1. During and after the First World War she was employed on training duties in the vicinity of New York and Long Island Sound. Placed "in ordinary" in July 1921, a year after she received the hull number SS-17, D-1 was formally decommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in February 1922. She was sold in June of that year.

This page features all the views we have related to USS Narwhal (Submarine # 17), which was renamed D-1 in 1911.


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 #: NH 45614

USS Narwhal
(Submarine # 17)

Underway circa 1909, probably during builder's trials.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 103KB; 740 x 570 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 58086

USS Narwhal
(Submarine # 17)

Underway circa 1909, probably during builder's trials.
The original print has been autographed by Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, who served in this submarine as a junior officer.

Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 118KB; 740 x 560 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99123

USS Narwhal
(Submarine # 17)

Fine screen halftone reproduction of a photograph of Narwhal underway, circa 1909-1911.
Copied from "The New Navy of the United States", by N.L. Stebbins, (New York, 1912).

Donation of David Shadell, 1987.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 73KB; 740 x 490 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99124

USS D-1
(Submarine # 17, ex-Narwhal)

Operating off shore, possibly near Pensacola, Florida, circa 1914.

Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Collection of John Lansing Callan.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 525 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 78926

"U.S. Submarines awaiting Orders"


Halftone reproduction, printed on a postal card, of a photograph of five submarines nested together prior to World War I. The three "boats" at right are (from center to right): USS D-2 (Submarine # 18); USS D-1 (Submarine # 17); and USS D-3 (Submarine # 19). The two at left are probably (in no particular order) USS E-1 (Submarine # 24) and USS E-2 (Submarine # 25).

Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Medical Service Corps), 1973.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 100KB; 740 x 505 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99157

USS D-3
(Submarine # 19, ex-Salmon)

Alongside a dock with other submarines on an icy day, circa 1918. Location is probably the Submarine Base at Groton, Connecticut. D-3 appears to be wearing pattern camouflage.
Other submarines present are (moving outward from D-3:
USS D-1 (Submarine # 17);
USS G-4 (Submarine # 26); and
USS G-3 (Submarine # 31).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 99KB; 740 x 555 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 92608

USS D-1
(Submarine # 17), left
and
USS G-3 (Submarine # 31), inboard

Photographed on 4 May 1920, possibly at the Submarine Base New London, Groton, Connecticut.

Collection of Admiral John S. McCain, Jr.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 93KB; 740 x 560 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99000

Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts


Contemporary newspaper clipping concerning the launching of the submarines Stingray (Submarine # 13), Tarpon (Submarine # 14) and Narwhal (Submarine # 17) at the Fore River Shipyard on 8 April 1909. The piece also identifies the "boat"'s sponsors, Miss Elizabeth Stevens (Stingray), Miss Katherine E. Theiss (Tarpon) and Mrs. G.C. Davison (Narwhal).

Collection of the Society of Sponsors of the United States Navy.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 80KB; 245 x 765 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99004

USS Snapper
(Submarine # 16);
USS Narwhal (Submarine # 17);
USS Tarpon (Submarine # 14); and
USS Bonita (Submarine # 15);
(listed from left to right)

Fitting out at the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, during the summer or fall of 1909.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 125KB; 740 x 625 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 99005

USS Bonita
(Submarine # 15);
USS Tarpon (Submarine # 14);
USS Narwhal (Submarine # 17); and
USS Snapper (Submarine # 16);
(listed from left to right)

Fitting out at the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, during the summer or fall of 1909.
USS North Dakota (Battleship # 29) is in the right background, also fitting out.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 121KB; 740 x 630 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 53776

U.S. Navy submarines in port, circa 1909


Possibly photographed at the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, these submarines are (from left to right): Tarpon (Submarine # 14); either Narwhal (Submarine # 17) or Salmon (Submarine # 19); Snapper (Submarine # 16); Stingray (Submarine # 13); Bonita (Submarine # 15); and Grayling (Submarine # 18).

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 91KB; 740 x 575 pixels

 


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


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Page made 15 February 2004
New image added 9 March 2004