USS ''F-3'' (SS-22), was a F-class

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

. She was named ''Pickerel'' when her

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

was laid down by The Moran Company of

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, making her the first ship of 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 ...

to be named for the pickerel, a type of

pike Pike, Pikes or The Pike may refer to: Fish * Blue pike or blue walleye, an extinct color morph of the yellow walleye ''Sander vitreus'' * Ctenoluciidae, the "pike characins", some species of which are commonly known as pikes * ''Esox'', genus of ...

. She was renamed ''F-3'' on 17 November 1911, launched on 6 January 1912 sponsored by Mrs. M. F. Backus, and commissioned on 5 August 1912.

Service history

''F-3'' completed her trials in the

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area before reporting for duty at

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

on 15 October 1912, when she joined the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla. The Flotilla operated along the coast of California, conducting constant exercises and experiments to develop the techniques of submarine warfare, and from August 1914 to November 1915, carried out similar operations in the

Hawaiian Islands The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Kur ...

out of

Naval Submarine Base Pearl Harbor file:Hawaii map new.png, Map of the List of counties in Hawaii, five counties of the Hawaii, state of Hawaii Naval Base Hawaii was a number of United States Navy bases in the Territory of Hawaii during World War II. At the start of the war ...

. ''F-3'' was placed in ordinary at

Mare Island Mare Island (Spanish: ''Isla de la Yegua'') is a peninsula in the United States in the city of Vallejo, California, about northeast of San Francisco. The Napa River forms its eastern side as it enters the Carquinez Strait juncture with the eas ...

on 15 March 1916, returning to full commission on 13 June 1917. After training her new crew, ''F-3'' was assigned to the Coast Torpedo Force, Pacific Fleet, based at

San Pedro, California San Pedro ( ; Spanish: " St. Peter") is a neighborhood within the City of Los Angeles, California. Formerly a separate city, it consolidated with Los Angeles in 1909. The Port of Los Angeles, a major international seaport, is partially located wi ...

San Pedro Submarine Base Naval Base San Pedro and San Pedro Submarine Base were United States Navy bases at the Port of San Pedro, California officially founded in 1919. While commissioned in 1919, the Navy started operating out of the port in 1910, by renting dock spac ...

. She engaged in daily operations, surfaced and submerged, training students of the submarine school. During maneuvers on 17 December 1917, she and collided, the latter sinking almost immediately. ''F-3'', along with other submarines with whom she was operating, rescued only 3 men out of the 22 on board the ''F-1''. ''F-3'' suffered a cracked bow cap and after repairs at

was assigned operations in cooperation with a civilian motion picture company in experiments with

underwater photography Underwater photography is the process of taking photographs while under water. It is usually done while scuba diving, but can be done while diving on surface supply, snorkeling, swimming, from a submersible or remotely operated underwater veh ...

. From 1919-1921, ''F-3'' served at San Pedro, California as training ship, and on 15 March 1922 she was decommissioned. She was sold on 17 August 1922.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:F-3 (SS-22) Ships built in Seattle 1912 ships F-3 World War I submarines of the United States United States submarine accidents Maritime incidents in 1917