The United States N-class submarines were a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differently ...

of seven coastal defense 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 ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

Description

The boats were constructed by two companies to slightly different specifications; ''N-1'', ''N-2'', and ''N-3'' were designed by the Electric Boat Company of

Groton, Connecticut Groton is a town in New London County, Connecticut located on the Thames River. It is the home of General Dynamics Electric Boat, which is the major contractor for submarine work for the United States Navy. The Naval Submarine Base New London is ...

and built by the

Seattle Construction and Drydock Company The Seattle Construction and Drydock Company was a shipbuilding company based in Seattle, Washington. Between 1911 and 1918, it produced a substantial number of ships for both commercial and military uses. History Formally established in 1911, ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, and ''N-4'', ''N-5'', ''N-6'', and ''N-7'' were designed and built by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequo ...

. The N-boats built by Lake are sometimes considered a separate class. The Electric Boat submarines had a length of overall, a beam of and a mean draft of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The N-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 23 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of .Friedman, p. 307 The Lake submarines had a length of overall, a beam of and a mean draft of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The N-class submarines had a crew of 3 officers and 26 enlisted men. They also had a diving depth of . For surface running, the Electric Boat submarines were powered by two

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-cal ...

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

electric motor An electric motor is an 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 wire winding to generate f ...

. The Lake boats had diesels and motors. Regardless of designer, the N-class submarines 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 four 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 four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. They were the last submarines to be designed without a deck gun until 1946.Gardiner & Gray, p. 129 This class was the first US Navy submarine class completed with metal

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually someth ...

shields. These had been omitted from previous classes to increase underwater speed. These classes used piping-and-canvas temporary bridges for extended surface runs; these were found to be inadequate on North Atlantic patrols in

. All forward-deployed submarines were back-fitted with metal "chariot" bridge shields during the war. The coastal patrol nature of the small N-class submarines was emphasized by their lack of a deck gun.

Ships in class

The seven submarines of the N-class were:

Service

Commissioned after the American entry into World War I, they were assigned to the

1st Naval District The naval district was a U.S. Navy military and administrative command ashore. Apart from Naval District Washington, the Districts were disestablished and renamed Navy Regions about 1999, and are now under Commander, Naval Installations Command ...

, primarily operating from

Naval Submarine Base New London Naval Submarine Base New London is the primary United States Navy East Coast submarine base, also known as the "Home of the Submarine Force." It is located in Groton, Connecticut directly across the Thames River from its namesake city of New L ...

with some boats operating out of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

at times, all patrolling the

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

coast. By 1922 the Seattle boats were assigned to the Submarine School, New London, while the Lake boats (sometimes called the ''N-4'' class) were all scrapped in that year, their engines having been removed in 1921 to re-equip some of the L class. The Seattle boats were decommissioned in 1926 and scrapped in 1931 to comply with the limits of the

London Naval Treaty The London Naval Treaty, officially the Treaty for the Limitation and Reduction of Naval Armament, was an agreement between the United Kingdom, Japan, France, Italy, and the United States that was signed on 22 April 1930. Seeking to address is ...

Notes

References

* * * Silverstone, Paul H., ''U.S. Warships of World War I'' (Ian Allan, 1970), .
Navsource.org early diesel submarines page

* {{DEFAULTSORT:N Class Submarine, United States Submarine classes N class