USS Porpoise (SS-7)

Postcard of USS Porpoise (right) and sister ship USS Shark, at New York, 1905
History
United States
NamePorpoise
NamesakeThe porpoise
BuilderCrescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, New Jersey
Laid down13 December 1900
Launched23 September 1901
Commissioned19 September 1903
Decommissioned21 April 1907
Recommissioned20 November 1908
Decommissioned12 December 1919
RenamedA-6 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No.7), 17 November 1911
Stricken16 January 1922
Identification
General characteristics
Class & typePlunger-class submarine
Displacement
  • 107 long tons (109 t) surfaced
  • 123 long tons (125 t) submerged
Length63 ft 10 in (19.46 m)
Beam11 ft 11 in (3.63 m)
Draft10 ft 7 in (3.23 m)
Installed power
  • 160 bhp (120 kW) surfaced
  • 150 bhp (110 kW) submerged
Propulsion
Speed
  • kn (15 km/h; 9.2 mph) surfaced
  • 7 kn (13 km/h; 8.1 mph) submerged
Test depth150 ft (46 m)
Complement
  • 1 officer
  • 6 enlisted
Armament1 × 17.7 in (450 mm) "18-in" torpedo tube (5 torpedoes)

USS Porpoise/A-6 (SS-7), also known as "Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 7", was one of seven Plunger-class submarines built for the United States Navy (USN) in the first decade of the 20th century. She was the third boat in the USN named for the porpoise. Used primarily for training, she was partially disassembled and transported to the Philippines, in 1908. During WWI she was used for harbor defense in Manila Bay.