USS ''H-2'' (SS-29) was a H-class submarine. She was originally named ''Nautilus'', the third ship and first submarine 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 bear the name, which was derived from a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

word meaning "sailor" or "ship." The

nautilus The nautilus (, ) is a pelagic marine mollusc of the cephalopod family Nautilidae. The nautilus is the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in ...

is also a tropical

mollusk Mollusca is the second-largest phylum of invertebrate animals after the Arthropoda, the members of which are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 85,000 extant species of molluscs are recognized. The number of fossil species is e ...

having a many-chambered, spiral shell with a pearly interior. It was also the name of the fictional submarine in Jules Verne's novel Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea which was prophetic of submarine technology. ''Nautilus'' was laid down by the

Union Iron Works Union Iron Works, located in San Francisco, California, on the southeast waterfront, was a central business within the large industrial zone of Potrero Point, for four decades at the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries ...

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " 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 fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

. She was renamed ''H-2'' on 17 November 1911, launched on 4 June 1913 sponsored by Mrs. William Ranney Sands, and commissioned on 1 December 1913,

Lieutenant, junior grade Lieutenant junior grade is a junior commissioned officer rank used in a number of navies. United States Lieutenant (junior grade), commonly abbreviated as LTJG or, historically, Lt. (j.g.) (as well as variants of both abbreviations), i ...

Howard H. J. Benson in command.

Service history

Attached to the Pacific Fleet, ''H-2'' operated along the West Coast — usually in company with — on various exercises and patrols out of

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 ...

until October 1917, when she sailed for the East Coast. Transferred to the Atlantic Fleet as of 9 November 1917, she cruised in the

Caribbean Sea The Caribbean Sea ( es, Mar Caribe; french: Mer des Caraïbes; ht, Lanmè Karayib; jam, Kiaribiyan Sii; nl, Caraïbische Zee; pap, Laman Karibe) is a sea of the Atlantic Ocean in the tropics of the Western Hemisphere. It is bounded by Mexico ...

for most of that winter, also conducting special submarine detection tests with aircraft and patrol vessels from Key West, Florida. After having new engines installed at

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

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in the spring of 1918, she resumed patrols in the Caribbean until the end of the war, when she returned to the sub base at

New London, Connecticut New London is a seaport city and a port of entry on the northeast coast of the United States, located at the mouth of the Thames River in New London County, Connecticut. It was one of the world's three busiest whaling ports for several decade ...

. From there, she operated in Long Island Sound, often with student officers from the submarine school on board. Heading west again, ''H-2'' sailed with ''H-1'' on 6 January 1920, touching at several Caribbean ports before transiting the

Panama Canal The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...

on 20 February. When ''H-1'' went aground off Santa Margarita Island on 12 March, ''H-2'' stood by and sent rescue and search parties for survivors, helping to save all but four of her sister ship's crew. She then continued to

, arriving on 20 March. Drills and exercises with the Pacific Fleet and Submarine Division 7 (SubDiv 7) out of San Pedro were interrupted by an extensive Mare Island Naval Shipyard overhaul in the winter of 1921, after which ''H-2'' returned to the same schedule. In company with SubDiv 7, she sailed from San Pedro on 25 July 1922, reaching Hampton Roads on 14 September. ''H-2'' decommissioned there on 23 October. Her name was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

on 18 December 1930, and she was sold for scrap on 1 September 1931.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:H-2 (SS-29) United States H-class submarines World War I submarines of the United States Ships built in San Francisco 1913 ships Ships built by Union Iron Works