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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Pike / A-5 (SS-6)

Adder Class Submarine Torpedo Boat: Laid down as Pike, 10 December 1900, at Union Iron Works, San Francisco, CA.; Launched, 14 January 1903; Commissioned USS Pike, 28 May 1903, at Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA.; Decommissioned, 28 November 1906; Recommissioned, 8 June 1908; Renamed USS A-5 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No.5), 17 November 1911; Decommissioned, 28 June 1912, at Puget Sound Navy Yard;; Laid up at Bermerton, WA.; Recommissioned, 17 April 1915, at Olongapo, PI; Designated (SS-6), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 25 July 1921; Struck from the Naval Register, 16 January 1922; Final Disposition, designated as a target, fate unknown.

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
102k	The Pike (SS-6) is launched at the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, on 14 January 1903.	Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. US Navy photo # NH 58251, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
105k	Pike (SS-6), afloat immediately after her launching, at the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California, on 14 January 1903. Several Navy pulling boats are nearby,	Collection of Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. US Navy photo # NH 58252, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
102k	Grampus (SS-4) and 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.
17k	Pike (SS-6) entrance hatch, taken at the Union Iron Works San Francisco, CA on acceptance trials day April of 1903.	US Navy photo, courtesy of Ric Hedman TN(SS).
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).
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.
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. Photo added 07/10/08.
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.
275k	The Bennington (PG-4) is in Mare Island's dry dock #1 on 9 May 1905 with Dart (YFB-308) and Pike (SS-6) forward and the civilian ferry *Vallejo* aft. I can't ID the ship in the water outside the dry dock.	US Navy photo, 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. Photo added 07/10/08.
142k	This is a post card. Caption on the card read "Submarine boat in action, Vallejo Harbor, California." She appears to be going from Mare Island Navy Yard to the Vallejo side of the harbor. The card was post marked (back) in Vallejo on 6 December 1907 and post marked again 19 December 1907 in San Antonio, Texas. Pike (SS-6) was moderized at Mare Island between 1906 and 1908.	US Navy photo, courtesy of Darryl Baker.
177k	Pike (SS-6), at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA., circa 1908. Two *Paul Jones class* destroyers are in the center background. Ship in the right distance is the hospital ship Relief (AH-1).	US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
710k	1949 reprint of the torpedo room aboard Pike (SS-6) circa 1909.	USN photo, courtesy of Darryl Baker. Photo added 07/10/08.
238k	Post card, no copyright info on the card. Pike (SS-6) departs dry dock #1 at Mare Island on 3 August 1909.	USN photo, courtesy of Darryl Baker. Photo added 07/10/08.
80k	Pike (SS-6), hauled out on a marine railway, at San Diego, California, circa 1910.	US Navy photo # NH 77181, from the collections of the US Naval Historical Center.
255k	Post Card stern view of Pike (SS-6) on a marine railway in San Diego circa 1910.	USN photo, courtesy of Darryl Baker. Photo added 07/10/08.
67k	Pike (SS-6), with a pressure sphere not seen in other photos. This is merely a free flooding fairwater that surrounds an extended access trunk. These boats were very wet on the surface in anything other than glass calm waters. To keep waves from washing over the hatch and flooding the boat, the access trunk was modified and the fairwater was built around it. All of the *A-Class* boats received this modification, with minor variations. The photo was taken from a glass slide, so this in an original.	US Navy photo, courtesy of Bob Vanderveen, www.ramonacafe.com. Partial text courtesy of David Johnston.
853k	This photo of the Pike (SS-6) appears to have been taken about the same time as the above photo but from a different angle. The photo carriers a date of July 1910 at San Diego.	USN photo, courtesy of Darryl Baker. Photo added 07/10/08.