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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Grampus / A-3 (SS-4)

Adder Class Submarine Torpedo Boat: Laid down as Grampus, 10 December 1900, at Union Iron Works, San Francisco, CA.; Launched, 31 July 1902; Commissioned USS Grampus, 28 May 1903, at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA.; Decommissioned, 28 November 1906; Laid up at Mare Island; Recommissioned, 13 June 1908; Renamed USS A-3 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No.4), 17 November 1911; Decommissioned, 28 June 1912, at Puget Sound Navy Yard; Recommissioned, 17 April 1915, at Olongapo, PI; Decommissioned, 25 July 1921, at Cavite Navy Yard, PI; Designated (SS-4), 17 July 1920; Struck from the Naval Register, 16 January 1922; Final Disposition, dismantled and designated as a target.

Specifications: Displacement; Surfaced, 107 t., Submerged, 123 t.; Length 63' 10"; Beam 11' 11"; Draft 10' 7"; Speed, Surfaced, 8 kts, Submerged, 7 kts; Depth Limit 150'; Complement, 1 Officer, 6 Enlisted; Armament, one 18" torpedo tube, 5 torpedoes; Propulsion, Otto Gas Engine Works gasoline engine, HP 160; Fuel Capacity 767 gal.; Electro Dynamic electric motors, HP 150; Battery Cells 60; single screw.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
126k	In 1902, Lieutenant Arthur MacArthur III took command of the Grampus (SS-4), a newly commissioned submarine and the first to be built on the Pacific Coast. He was soon given command of a division of submarines and according to his brother General Douglas MacArthur, “was one of the original developers of the underwater tactics and strategy”.	Photo from the MacArthur Museum and Library in Norfolk, Virginia, courtesy of Bill Gonyo. Photo added 04/16/09.
80k	Grampus (SS-4) running full speed on the surface", photographed near San Francisco, California, during her trials, November 1902. On the back is this notation: "These boats are at present one of the most dangerous of naval ships in war on account of being able to come up under another ship, shoot a torpedo and be gone again before anyone realizes what has happened. When running on the surface they are driven at the rate of about ten knots per hour by gasoline engines. When submerged they can travel about 8 knots per hour by motors driven by storage batteries."	Photo courtesy of Ric Hedman.
64k	Grampus (SS-4) photographed near San Francisco, California, during her trials, November 1902.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 53764.
63k	Grampus (SS-4) running trials, near San Francisco, California, 3 November 1902.	Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, 1971. The original print is in the Union Iron Works scrapbook, Volume II, page 167. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 75174.
64k	Grampus (SS-4) underway in the vicinity of San Francisco, California, during her trials, November 1902.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 53763.
70k	Grampus (SS-4) running trials, near San Francisco, California, 3 November 1902.	Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, 1971. The original print is in the Union Iron Works scrapbook, Volume II, page 167. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 75175.
102k	Grampus (SS-4) & Pike (SS-6) in the hydraulic lift drydock at the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, circa 1903.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 53765.
28k	Grampus (SS-4) and Pike (SS-6) photo taken April, 1903 with the in the background. Shown on deck are (in no special order) Frank Cable,William F.C. Nindemann, Harry H. Morrell, Henry S. Lathrop, Herman W.Noblett, Lawrence Spear, and Gunner Owen Hill, US Navy.	Photo courtesy of Ric Hedman TN(SS).
682k	From left to right Fortune (YT-11), Grampus (SS-4), Pike(SS-6), and Receiving Ship Independence at Mare Island on 23 April 1904.	USN photo # MINSY 329-4-1904, courtesy of Darryl Baker..
563k	Stern view of Pike(SS-6) in the background to the left and the Grampus (SS-4) are seen after being removed form the water via marine railway on 4 January 1907. *Grampus* was re-launched on 30 April 1908 and *Pike* followed on 2 May 1908.	USN photo, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
120k	Grampus (SS-4) in drydock at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 September 1906.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 65644.
164k	Grampus (SS-4) at right Pike (SS-6) at left in drydock at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California, 23 September 1903. The Army Transport *Lawton*, freshly painted, is in the center.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 65648.
141k	Grampus (SS-4) at right Pike (SS-6) at left in drydock at the Mare Island Navy Yard, California. Photograph is dated 19 October 1903. The Army Transport *Lawton* is being painted in the right background.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 70600.
82k	An early U.S. Navy submarine, probably Grampus (SS-4) or Pike (SS-6) underway off the yard, circa early 1905. Gunboats *Petrel* and *Princeton* are in the center background. At left are the decommissioned gunboats *Annapolis* and *Vicksburg*.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 100915.Courtesy of Ted Stone, 1986.
750k	1939 Re-print on a 1908 photo. Broadside view on Grampus (SS-4) off Mare Island circa 1908.	USN photo # 942-6-39, courtesy of Darryl Baker..
77k	Mare Island Navy Yard, California The Navy Yard Fire Department fights a gasoline fire apparently involving the submarines Grampus (SS-4) and Pike (SS-6), 1909-1910. One of the submarines can be seen just offshore, in the left center.	Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 98616.
71k	Grampus (SS-4) largely submerged during a torpedo firing exercise off San Diego, California, 21 July 1910. The U.S. Navy tug *Fortune* is in the background. The original photograph was printed on post card ("AZO") stock by Lee Passmore, Post Card Artist, 25th & M Sts., San Diego.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 104702-KN. Donation of Dr. Mark Kulikowski, 2007.
192k	Grampus (SS-4) off San Diego, California, in 1910. Note the towing bridle rigged to her bow.	USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
285k	Grampus (SS-4) alongside Maryland (ACR-8) in San Pedro Harbor circa 1911.	USN photo # MINSY 329-4-1904, courtesy of Darryl Baker..
227k	These drawings represent the two Pacific Coast A boats, Grampus (SS-4) & Pike(SS-6) modernized, but before the installation of the second periscope. Taken from a November 1911 C & R sketch of an improved hoisting arrangement, it shows the arrangement of the *Porpoise* as modernized (from which the Pacific modifications were copied). The big rectangle forward of the bridge is the torpedo hatch. The circular object on the bridge is a pelorus, for taking bearings. A portable compass was mounted alongside the wheel. By January 1912, *Grampus* had been fitted witha submarine bell abaft her periscope, nearly at the break of the aft. Abaft the tall periscope is a binnacle, which holds a magnetic compass clear of the magnetic mass of the hull.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
107k	In dry dock, probably at Mare Island, Grampus (SS-4) illustrates the initial configuration of the *Adder class. Note that the bow cap swings up rather than lifts up. Unlike Holland*, this design shows a deck only amidships. The short snub immeadiatley abaft the ventilator is for the surface steering wheel.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
101k	The costal defense submarines grew very rapidly. In dry dock at San Diego, Grampus (SS-4) shows her rudimentary superstructure and a single tall periscope abaft her enlarged conning tower.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.