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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Porpoise / A-6 (SS-7)

Adder Class Submarine Torpedo Boat: Laid down as Porpoise, 13 December 1900, at Crescent Shipyard, Elizabethport, NJ; Launched, 23 September 1902; Commissioned USS Porpoise, 19 September 1903, at the Holland yard, New Suffolk, NY; Decommissioned, 21 April 1907, at New York Navy Yard; Recommissioned, 20 November 1908, at Cavite Navy Yard, PI; Renamed USS A-6, 17 November 1911; Decommissioned, 12 December 1919; Designated (SS-7), 17 July 1920; Final Disposition, authorized as a target in July 1921; Struck from the Naval Register, 16 January 1922.

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
33k	Post card bow view of the A-6 (SS-07) in Newport R.I., circa 1902.	Photo courtesy of Jack Treutle.
129k	Electric Boat Company/Holland Torpedo Boat Company facility, New Suffolk, Long Island, New York. Photographed circa 1902, with two torpedo boats tied up to the breakwater and Porpoise (SS-7) in the foreground.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 42643.
107k	Porpoise (SS-7) underway in harbor, circa 1903-1906. Note the officer steering the submarine, and the 13-star "boat" ensign she is flying.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # 80-G-424463.
80k	Off New York Navy Yard, Porpoise (SS-7) displays her enlarged conning tower and tall periscope (its lens points dead ahead). The other two pipes are a ventillator and the diesel induction. Note how the deck has been extended outboard around the enlarged conning tower. The purpose of the object on the bow is unknown.	Photo & text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
64k	A group of A-type submarines at the Holland Submarine Co., basin, New Suffolk, Long Island, circa 1903. In the front line Plunger (SS-02) (later *A-1), Porpoise* (SS-07) (later *A-6), and Adder* (SS-03) (later *A-2) along the breakwater (background) are Shark* (SS-08) (later *A-7) and Moccasin* (SS-05) (later *A-4*).	US Navy photo # NH 45937 from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, courtesy of Joe Radigan, MACM, USN Ret.
138k	Shark (SS-08) at left, and Porpoise (SS-07) on cradles at the New York Navy Yard, circa 1905. Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card by the American Colortype Company.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 98835-KN. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Collection of Commander Theodore G. Ellyson, USN.
114k	Shark (SS-08) at left, and Porpoise (SS-07) on cradles at the New York Navy Yard, circa 1905. Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card by Edward H. Mitchell, San Francisco, California. It was mailed on 8 July 1908 as an advertisement for Alfred S. Witter, photographer with offices at Seattle, Waterville and Bridgeport, Washington.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 101199-KN. Courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation. Donation of Staff Sergeant and Mrs. Ralph Massee, USAF (Retired), via Captain Otto Finley, USN (Retired), 1986.
125k	Shark (SS-08) at left,and Porpoise (SS-07) on cradles, with crewmen posing on deck, circa 1905. Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card. Though the original postcard states that the view was taken at the Newport Training Station, Rhode Island, it was actually photographed at the New York Navy Yard.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 70936. Courtesy Charles L. Price, Jr., Alexandria, Virginia, 1970.
120k	Shark (SS-08) at left, and Porpoise (SS-07) on cradles, with crewmen posing on deck, circa 1905. Photograph by Enrique Muller, published on a contemporary postal card.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 85772. Courtesy Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Retired), 1977.
102k	Loaded on board the collier Caesar (AC-16) , Shark (SS-7) and her sistership, Porpoise (SS-8), comprised the auxiliary's deck cargo as she proceeded, via Suez, for the Philippine Islands. Photo taken at the New York Navy Yard in April 1908.	Photo courtesy of Roy C. Thomas, text courtesy of DANFS.
145k	New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York: Submarines Shark (SS-08), Plunger (SS-02) and Porpoise (SS-07) housed over and covered with snow, in one of the Navy Yard's drydocks, 25 January 1908.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 19-N-15-28-7. Courtesy Commander Donald J. Robinson, USN (Retired), 1977.
90k	Submarines Shark (SS-08), and Porpoise (SS-07) on board the collier Caesar (AC-16) for transportation to the Philippine Islands, April 1908. Halftone reproduction, published in the book "Army & Navy", page 753.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 42644.
81k	Caesar (AC-16) at anchor in 1908-1909, while transporting submarines to the Philippine Islands. The "boats" are either Submarines Shark (SS-08), and Porpoise (SS-07) which were embarked on Caesar (AC-16) in April-July 1908, or Adder (SS-03) and Moccasin (SS-05), which were on board in July-October 1909.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 78275.
110k	Adder (SS-03) at the Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Islands, circa 1910-1911. Porpoise (SS-07) is in the left background.Note the man inside *Adder's* cowl ventilator.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 90169.
79k	A-6 (SS-07) at the Cavite Navy Yard, Philippines, circa 1912. A *Bainbridge class* destroyer is in the background.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 98836.
83k	A-6 (SS-07) underway in Manila Bay, Philippine Islands, circa 1912. A-4 (SS-05) and a *Bainbridge class* destroyer are in the background.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 90187.
66k	A-6 (SS-07)underway during an endurance run in Philippine waters, circa 1912.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 90192.
122k	Dewey Drydock, Olongapo Naval Station, Philippines. Submarines A-6 (SS-07), A-4 (SS-5), and A-2 (SS-3) in the Dewey Drydock, circa 1912. The boats show standard features: a single tall periscope abaft the conning tower; a conning tower fairing; and a bridge structure atop the conning tower, with the surface wheel atop it. This photo was taken before the boats had been fitted with forward periscopes. The bow of their tender, *Mohican*, is at left, with an anchor suspended from her starboard cathead.	Photo # NH 90185 courtesy of U.S. Naval Historical Center. Partial text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
87k	Submarines and their tender, *Mohican, in the drydock, circa 1912. The submarines are (from left to right): A-6* (SS-07), A-4 (SS-05) and A-2 (SS-03).	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 90181.
98k	A-6 (SS-07) underway, date and location unknown.	USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
80k	A-7 (SS-08) right B-1, (SS-10), center. In Philippine waters, during the Nineteen-"Teens". Both show the submarine bells used for underwater communication ( *B-1's* is on her foredeck, *A-7's* abaft her conning tower). Note how rudimentary their bridges were.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 69710. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.