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, a
beam of and a mean
draft 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 engines, 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 forc ...
. 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 abo ...
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 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 Metropolitan Boston as one of Boston's immediate southern suburbs. Its population in 2020 was 101,636, making ...
, 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 po ...
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 USS Castine
Two ships of the United States Navy have been named ''Castine'' for a town in Maine.
* , was a gunboat launched in 1892 and decommissioned in 1919. Lieutenant Chester Nimitz served aboard her in 1912.
* , was a gunboat, originally named ''PC-4 ...
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 ...
. 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 (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1705, it had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 cen ...
for Guantánamo Bay, 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 Co ...
nian ports as advance submarine bases. Laid up at Coco Solo 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