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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060

Photo # NH 43600:  USS Tarpon in 1909

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

USS Tarpon (Submarine # 14), 1909-1920.
Renamed C-3 in 1911

USS Tarpon, a 238-ton Octopus ("C") class submarine, was built at Quincy, Massachusetts. After commissioning in November 1909 she operated along the U.S. East Coast for more than three years. Tarpon was renamed C-3 in November 1911, as the U.S. Navy replaced "fish" names for its submarines with alpha-numeric ones. During much of 1913 she was based at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and was transferred to the Panama Canal Zone near the end of the year. C-3 remained in the Panama area for the rest of her career, except for the summer of 1918, when she was employed on patrol service off Florida. Laid up at Coco Solo, Canal Zone, in August 1919, USS C-3 was decommissioned in December and sold in April 1920

This page features all the views we have related to USS Tarpon (Submarine # 14), which was renamed C-3 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 43600

USS Tarpon
(Submarine # 14)

Photographed by Enrique Muller, 1909.
The gunboat in the right distance is either USS Castine or USS Machias.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 66KB; 740 x 520 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 92953

Atlantic Fleet Submarines


At Baltimore, Maryland, on 30 October 1910.
These submarines are (from left to right): Stingray (Submarine # 13); Tarpon (Submarine # 14); and Snapper (Submarine # 16).
Note their 13-star "boat" flags.

Donation of Ted Stone, 1981.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 112KB; 740 x 535 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 62371

USS C-3
(Submarine # 14, ex-Tarpon)

Underway, during the early "Teens".

Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, USN.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 76KB; 740 x 465 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 85276

C-Class submarines in the Gatun Locks, Panama Canal, circa 1914


Photograph printed on a color-tinted postal card, prior to World War I.
The submarine present include (in no particular order): USS C-1 (submarine # 9); USS C-2 (submarine # 13); USS C-3 (submarine # 14); USS C-4 (submarine # 15); and USS C-5 (submarine # 163).
Security concerns about this photograph may have prompted the official correspondence reproduced in Photo # NH 85276 (extended caption).

Courtesy of Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN(MSC), 1975

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 108KB; 740 x 520 pixels

 
Photo #: NH 100941

"C"-class Submarines


Alongside USS Charleston (Cruiser # 22) in Panama Canal Zone waters, circa 1916-1917.
These submarines are (from left to right): C-5 (Submarine # 16); C-2 (Submarine # 13); and C-3 (Submarine # 14).
Photographed by Pickard & Zell.
Note the small rowboat, and Sailors washing clothing on the float between the cruiser and the submarines.

Courtesy of Carter Rila, 1986.

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 84KB; 740 x 465 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 99001

USS Stingray
(Submarine # 13)

The "boat"'s Sponsor, Miss Elizabeth Stevens (center, holding flowers), with Miss Amanda Bayden, standing near Stingray's bow shortly before the christening, at the Fore River Shipyard, Quincy, Massachusetts, on 8 April 1909. At left is Miss Katherine E. Theiss, who christened USS Tarpon (Submarine # 14) on the same day.

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

U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

Online Image: 71KB; 740 x 535 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 17 December 2003