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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

M-1 (SS-47)

Radio Call Sign: November - Yankee - Yankee
M-1 Class Submarine: Laid down, 2 July 1914, at Fore River Shipbuilding Co., Quincy, MA.,; Launched, 14 September 1915; Commissioned, USS M-1, 16 February 1918; Designated (SS-47), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 15 March 1922, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA.; Struck from the Naval Register, 16 March 1922; Final Disposition, ordered sold 5 April 1922; scrapped, 25 September 1922, to J. G. Hitner, Philadelphia, Pa.
Partial data submitted by Yves Hubert.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 488 t., Submerged: 676 t.; Length 196' 3"; Beam 14' 9"; Draft 11'; Speed, Surfaced 14 kts, Submerged 10.5 kts; Depth Limit 200'; Complement 2 Officers, 26 Enlisted; Armament, four 18", torpedo tubes, 8 torpedoes, one 3"/23 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel-electric, New London Ship & Engine Co, diesel engines, 840 hp, Fuel Capacity, 28,442 gal., Electro Dynamic Co, electric motors, 680 hp, Battery Cells, 120, single propeller.
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M-1266kGeneral Arrangement of the M-1 (SS-47), 31 March 1913. National Archives Identifier: 76058206
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
M-1371kOutboard Profile of M-1 (SS-47), 31 March 1913.
M-1 was E.B.'s first U.S. double-hull submarine. The company had already designed a larger double-hull boat for Russia. (EB 31A design, Narwhal class; M-1 had a similar stern, unlike those of standard E.B. single-hull submarines, with a single rudder and propellers well below the axis of the hull.
Unlike Lake's stern, the stern on M-1 had a vertical chisel shape, much like contemporary cruiser sterns (but not raked forward). The 3-in/23 gun is shown set up on deck. A WW I British observer, Stanley Goodall (later Director of Naval Construction Sir Stanley) found crew accommodation particularly comfortable, with cots (bunks) three high, light & easily stowed.
The boat was heated and had an ice tank (i.e. refrigerator), but she seemed crowded. Early in 1918 the existing Gould batteries had already been found unsatisfactory, and were being replaced by thin-plated oxides. 		Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
National Archives Identifier: 76058208
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
M-11.27kLaunching the M-1 (SS-47), 14 September 1915.National Archives Identifier: 45513699
Local Identifier: 165-WW-338B-4
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
M-1
0804747		NROur Coast Should Be Guarded by an Adequate Fleet of Submarines
By ERNEST W. ROBERTS, Congressman, From Massachusetts
IT is my deliberate judgment, after fourteen years' service on the naval committee and much thought and study of the question, that no more money should be expended for new battleships until we have built or acquired the SUBSIDIARIES AND AUXILIARIES SO VITAL TO THE EFFICIENCY OF OUR FLEET AND THAT IMMEDIATE ACTION SHOULD BE TAKEN NEXT WINTER TO THAT END.
To my mind the defense of our country, the preventing of a hostile force from landing anywhere on our seacoast, is of far greater importance than the possession of a formidable army or navy and that no effort should be spared to make us safe from invasion by sea.
TO THAT END WE SHOULD AT ONCE PROVIDE AN ADEQUATE NUMBER OF SUBMARINES SO THAT EVERY HARBOR, EVERY STRATEGIC POINT AND EVERY STRETCH OF SEACOAST WHERE TROOPS CAN POSSIBLY BE LANDED SHOULD BE PATROLLED AND GUARDED BY THE HIGHLY EFFICIENT BUT COMPARATIVELY INEXPENSIVE SUBMARINE.
The M-1's (SS-47) Sponsor was Miss Sara Dean Roberts, daughter of Congressman Ernest W. Roberts of Massachusetts, member of the Naval Committee of the House of Representatives & Sara Weeks Roberts 		Image and text provided by Washington State Library; Olympia, WA.
Photo from Aberdeen Herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 23 September 1915, Image 7, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
M-1 NR UNCLE SAM'S GIANT NEW SUBMARINE M-1 (SS-47) HAS CRUISING RADIUS OF 6,000 MILES
The M-1 in a choppy sea and with half a gale sweeping over Cape Cod Bay off Provincetown, Mass., the largest submarine ever built in the U.S. had a severe test in submerging and diving and in every way came up to the expectations of the officials at the Fore River Shipbuilding company and the Electric Boat Company of New London. The builders have guaranteed the submarine has a cruising radius of 3,500 miles, although it is said she can easily cover 6,000 miles without replenishing fuel or supplies. 		Image and text provided by Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA
Photo from The Ogden Standard. (Ogden City, Utah) 1913-1920, 26 October 1915, 4 P.M. CITY EDITION, Image 2, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
M-1 724k M-1 (SS-47) underway during acceptance trials, off Provincetown, MA., 26 June 1916. US National Archives photo # 19-N-12791, a US Navy Bureau of Ships photo now in the collections of the US National Archives.
M-1
0804719		834kThe M-1 (SS-47) Off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 30 June 1916, during her trials.USNHC photo NH 47072 courtesy of history.navy.mil
M-1
0804707		988kUncle Sam's biggest submarine, the M-1 (SS-47).Photographer: Underwood & Underwood,courtesy of digitalcommonwealth.org via the Boston Public Library, Leslie Jones Collection.
M-1 102k Starboard side view of the M-1 (SS-47), underway at 11.57 knots during acceptance trials, off Provincetown, MA., 30 June 1916. USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
M-1 510k The torpedo room of the M-1 (SS-47). Photo courtesy of Reginald Flemming Landrum via Lillie Bavendam.
M-1 646k Control room of the M-1 (SS-47). Helm in center, bow and stern planes to left. Photo courtesy of Reginald Flemming Landrum via Lillie Bavendam.
M-1 475k M-1's (SS-47) engine room. Photo courtesy of Reginald Flemming Landrum via Lillie Bavendam.
M-1 NR M-1 (SS-47).Image and text provided by Arizona State Library, Archives and Public Records; Phoenix, AZ.
Photo from Tombstone Epitaph.(Tombstone, Ariz.) 1887-current, 25 February 1917, WEEKLY EDITION, Image 3, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
M-1 373k The M-1 (SS-47) exercises off the East Coast in February 1917. USN photo by Underwood & Underwood, thanks to Jim Kurrasch @ Battleship Iowa, Pacific Battleship Center.
M-1 382k Disappearing gun. This is the famous (infamous) 3-inch "pea shooter", here installed on M-1 (SS-47). Photo courtesy of Don Montgomery, courtesy of Beneath the Surface: World War I Submarines Built in Seattle and Vancouver by Bill Lightfoot.
M-1 107k The M-1 (SS-47) after arriving from New London, CT., possibly after 16 February 1918. USN photo courtesy of Robert M. Cieri.
M-1 214k Cross sections of M-1 (SS-47), illustrate E.B.'s approach to double hull submarine design. At left is a structural drawing of the boat's midship cross section, with the safety tank shaded in. At right are cross sections at the engine room (top) and at the crew's quarters (below, where the battery is cross-hatched). Drawing by Norman Friedman. Text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
New London 855k U.S. submarines in New London CT.
From left to right, unidentified, N-3 (SS-55), M-1 (SS-47), N-6 (SS-58) & N-2 (SS-54). 		Photo by James W. Anderson, courtesy of Kristina Magill via Gary Priolo.
View the M-1 (SS-47)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
Not Applicable to this Vessel
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PigBoats.COM TM, a Historic Look at Submarines
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