USS B-3

	USS Tarantula, underway near the New York Navy Yard, 1909
History
United States
Name	Tarantula
Namesake	The tarantula
Builder	Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts
Cost	$185,077.84 (hull and machinery)
Laid down	5 September 1905
Launched	30 March 1907
Sponsored by	Mrs. George S. Radford
Commissioned	3 December 1907
Decommissioned	6 November 1909
Recommissioned	15 April 1910
Decommissioned	4 December 1912
Recommissioned	2 September 1913
Decommissioned	25 July 1921
Renamed	B-3 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No.12), 17 November 1911
Stricken	17 January 1922
Identification	Hull symbol: SS-12 (17 July 1920); Call sign: NUD; ;
Fate	Sunk as a target
General characteristics
Class & type	B-class submarine
Displacement	145 long tons (147 t) surfaced; 173 long tons (176 t) submerged;
Length	82 ft 5 in (25.12 m)
Beam	12 ft 6 in (3.81 m)
Draft	10 ft 7 in (3.23 m)
Installed power	250 bhp (190 kW) surfaced; 150 bhp (110 kW) submerged;
Propulsion	1 × Craig Shipbuilding Company gasoline engine; 1 × Electro Dynamic electric motor; 60-cell battery; 1 × shaft;
Speed	9 kn (17 km/h; 10 mph) surfaced; 8 kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) submerged;
Range	540 nmi (1,000 km; 620 mi) at 9 kn surfaced; 12 nmi (22 km; 14 mi) at 4 kn (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph) submerged;
Test depth	150 ft (46 m)
Complement	1 officer; 9 enlisted;
Armament	2 × 18 inch (450 mm) bow torpedo tubes (4 torpedoes)

USS Tarantula/B-3 (SS-12), also known as "Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 12", was one of three B-class submarines built for the United States Navy (USN) in the first decade of the 20th century. She was the first boat of the USN to be named for the tarantula, a group of large, and often hairy, spiders of the family Theraphosidae. Used primarily for training, she was transported to the Philippines, in 1913. During WWI she patrolled the waters around the Philippines.