USS ''C-4'' (SS-15) one of five
C-class submarines built for the
United States Navy
The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...
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
overall
Overalls, also called bib-and-brace overalls or dungarees, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers".
Overalls were ...
, a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
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 vesse ...
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
gasoline engine
A petrol engine (gasoline engine in American English) is an internal combustion engine designed to run on petrol (gasoline). Petrol engines can often be adapted to also run on fuels such as liquefied petroleum gas and ethanol blends (such as ''E ...
s, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a
electric motor
An electric motor is an Electric machine, electrical machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a Electromagneti ...
. 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-4'' was laid down by Fore River Shipbuilding
Fore River Shipyard was a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corporation located on Weymouth Fore River in Braintree and Quincy, Massachusetts. It began operations in 1883 in Braintree, and moved to its final location on Quincy Point in 1901. In ...
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
An electric boat is a powered watercraft driven by electric motors, which are powered by either on-board battery packs, solar panels or generators.
While a significant majority of water vessels are powered by diesel engines, with sail pow ...
Company, as ''Bonita''. She was launched on 17 June 1909 sponsored by Mrs. J. C. Townsend, and commissioned on 23 November 1909. On 11 July 1910 she collided with Submarine tender
A submarine tender is a type of depot ship that supplies and supports submarines.
Development
Submarines are small compared to most oceangoing vessels, and generally do not have the ability to carry large amounts of food, fuel, torpedoes, and ...
USS Castine while practicing attack maneuvers, USS Castine was beached near North Truro, Massachusetts
North Truro is a village in the town of Truro, Massachusetts, United States. Due to its proximity to urbanized Provincetown, it is somewhat more densely developed than the rest of the town, with houses and small resort facilities lining the t ...
. Castine was later refloated, repaired and returned to service.Atlantic
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...
Torpedo Fleet, and later to the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla, ''Bonita'' plied east coast waters until May 1913, when she cleared Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 census, making it the third-most populous city in Virginia after neighboring Virginia Be ...
for Guantánamo Bay
Guantánamo Bay ( es, Bahía de Guantánamo) is a bay in Guantánamo Province at the southeastern end of Cuba. It is the largest harbor on the south side of the island and it is surrounded by steep hills which create an enclave that is cut off ...
, Cuba. Her tactical exercises and development operations continued here and from Cristobal, 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 ...
, where she reported on 12 December 1913. In August 1917, sailing with two other submarines, she explored the suitability of Panama
Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...
nian ports as advance submarine bases. Laid up at Coco Solo
Coco Solo was a United States Navy submarine base and naval air station, active from 1918 to the 1960s.
History
The submarine base at Coco Solo was established May 6, 1918. The site corresponds with modern-day Cativá in Panama. It was on the ...
Canal Zone from 12 November 1918, ''C-4'' was decommissioned there on 15 August 1919, and sold on 13 April 1920.
Notes
References
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:C-4 (SS-15)
United States C-class submarines
World War I submarines of the United States
Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts
1909 ships