USS ''C-2'' (SS-13) was one of five C-class submarines built for the

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in the first decade of the 20th century.

Description

The ''C''-class submarines were enlarged versions of the preceding B class, the first American submarines with two

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power and torque and rotation, usually used to connect ...

s. They had a length of

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, a

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of and a mean

draft Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vessel ...

of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The C-class boats had a crew of 1 officer and 14 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of .Friedman, p. 306 For surface running, they were powered by two Craig

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s, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a

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. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the boats had a range of at and at submerged. The boats were armed with two 18-inch (450 mm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in the bow. They carried two reloads, for a total of four torpedoes.Gardiner & Gray, p. 127

Construction and career

''C-2'' was laid down by Fore River Shipbuilding Company in

Quincy, Massachusetts Quincy ( ) is a coastal U.S. city in Norfolk County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the largest city in the county and a part of Greater Boston, Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 1 ...

– under a subcontract from

Electric Boat Company Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter that has a property of electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described ...

– as USS ''Stingray''. She was launched on 8 April 1909 sponsored by Ms. Elizabeth Stevens, and commissioned on 23 November 1909. She was renamed USS ''C-2'' on 17 November 1911. ''C-2'' – assigned to the

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Torpedo Fleet and later the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla – cruised along the

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until 20 May 1913, when she cleared

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, for six months of operations from

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. In December, she reported at

Cristóbal, Colón Cristóbal is a port town and corregimiento in Colón District, Colón Province, Panama. The corregimiento has a population of 49,422 as of 2010. The town is located on the western edge of Manzanillo Island, on the Atlantic side of the Panama ...

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, and began an operating schedule of

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practice, exploration of anchorages, and harbor defense duty at ports of the

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terr ...

. During the latter part of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, ''C-2'' patrolled the

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coast. The submarine was placed in ordinary at

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, Canal Zone on 22 August 1919, and was decommissioned on 23 December 1919. She was sold for scrap on 13 April 1920.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:C-2 (SS-13) United States C-class submarines World War I submarines of the United States Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts 1909 ships