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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

Tarantula / B-3 (SS-12)

B Class Submarine: Laid down, 5 September 1905, at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA.; Launched, 30 March 1907; Commissioned USS Tarantula, 3 December 1907; Decommissioned, 6 November 1909, at Charleston Navy Yard, Charleston, SC; Recommissioned, 15 April 1910; Renamed USS B-3, 17 November 1911; Decommissioned, 4 December 1912, at Charleston Navy Yard; Recommissioned, 2 September 1913, at Cavite Navy Yard, PI; Decommissioned and struck from the Naval Register, 25 July 1921; Final Disposition, sunk as a target, hulk sunk in Manila Bay near Corregidor.

Specifications: Displacement, surfaced 145 t., submerged 173 t.; Length 82' 5"; Beam 12' 6"; Draft 10' 7"; Speed, surfaced 9 kts, submerged 8 kts; Complement, 1 Officer 9 Enlisted; Armament, two 18" torpedo tubes, four torpedoes; Propulsion, gasoline-electric, Craig Shipbuilding Co. gasoline engines, 250 hp, Fuel Capacity, 1,880 gals, Electro Dynamic Co., electric motors, Battery Cells 60, single propeller.

Size	Image Description	Contributed By
103k	The three B-boats(SS-10/12) (Inboard) Cuttlefish (SS-11), Tarantula (SS-12), and Viper (SS-10) share a snowy dry dock at the New York Navy Yard, January 25, 1907. Note that each one still has a single fixed periscope, with a flagstaff above it. Boats running submerged flew flags on these staffs to warn surface ships against running them down. Note, too, the running lights affixed to boards on the foremasts.	Collection of Rear. Admiral Henry Williams. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
221k	The B-boats(SS-10/12): Viper (SS-10), Cuttlefish (SS-11),& Tarantula (SS-12), the ultimate development of the single screw *Holland* design, introduced a much more extensive superstructure for sea keeping. As designed, *Viper* had only the single periscope shown, as in *Plunger*, it was let into the conning tower. A second (hull) periscope was later added. Engine gearing had been abandoned, the propleller shaft no longer coincided precisley with the axis of the hull. Air compressors and main bilge pumps were driven from the main shaft via cluthces and gears; they could be operated by either the motor or the engine. Note that, in a boat this small, a reload torpedo occupied much of the hull.	Collection of Rear. Admiral Henry Williams. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
67k	Tarantula (SS-12) running preliminary acceptance trials off Newport, Rhode Island, August 1907.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 41915.
470k	Viper (SS-10), Cuttlefish (SS-11), and Tarantula (SS-12) lie together in dry dock at the New York Navy Yard, January 25, 1908.	NARA (National Archives and Record Administration) photo # 19N15-28-6, courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
109k	Cuttlefish (SS-11), Tarantula (SS-12), and Viper (SS-10) In port, circa 1909	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 29.
76k	*Tarantula*,underway near the New York Navy Yard, 1909. Photographed by Enrique Muller.	US Navy Bureau of Ships photo # 19-N-60-5, now in the collections of the Nara (National Archives and Record Administration).
102k	Viper (SS-10) in port, with members of her crew on deck, circa 1907-1911. Tarantula (SS-12) is behind her.	U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 38.
97k	B-3 (ex-Tarantula) (SS-12) lies in Manila Bay after her voyage from Norfolk with B-2 (ex-Cuttlefish) (SS-11) as deck cargo, forward, in late April or May 1913, before they were launched from her deck.	USNHC photo # NH 90172, from the Philip H. Wilson Collection, submitted by Joe Radigan, MACM USN Ret.
110k	B-3 (ex-Tarantula) (SS-12) at the Cavite Navy Yard, Philippine Islands, with other submarines, circa 1913-1917.	Collection of Phillip H. Wilson. Donated by Mrs. Pauline M. Wilson, 1979. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 98926.
72k	B-3 (ex-Tarantula) (SS-12) with her crew on deck, at the Cavite Navy Yard, Philippines, 1919.	Courtesy of Rear Admiral R.D. Workman, USN (ChC), Retired, 1969. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 67654.
102k	B-3 (ex-Tarantula) (SS-12) with her crew on deck, date and location unknown.	US Navy photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
57k	B-3 (ex-Tarantula) (SS-12), date and place unknown.	US Navy photo courtesy of Mike Green.

View the Tarantula / B-3 (SS-12)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable to this Vessel

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Through the Looking Glass, a Historic Look at Submarines

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