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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

N-3 (SS-55)

Radio Call Sign: November - Zulu - Golf
N-1 Class Submarine: Laid down, 31 July 1915, at Seattle Construction and Drydock Co., Seattle, WA.; Launched, 21 February 1917; Commissioned, USS N-3, 26 September 1917; Designated (SS-55), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 30 April 1926, at Philadelphia, PA.; Struck from the Naval Register, 18 December 1930; Final Disposition, scrapped in 1931.

Specifications: Displacement, surfaced: 348 t., submerged: 414 t.; Length 147' 3"; Beam 15' 9"; Draft 12' 6"; Speed, surfaced 13 kts, submerged 11 kts; Depth Limit 200'; Complement 2 Officers, 23 Enlisted; Armament, four 18" torpedo tubes, eight torpedoes; Propulsion, diesel-electric, New London Ship and Engine Co., diesel engines, 480 hp, Fuel Capacity, 6,058 gals., Electro Dynamic Co. electric motors, 280 hp, Battery Cells 120, single screw.
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N-3 72k Miss Coontz sponsors N-3 (SS-55). Outfitted to the height of fashion, fur and all, the daughter of the commandant of the Puget Sound Naval Yard on a chilly February day, christens the last submarine ever built in Seattle. USN photo & text courtesy of Beneath the Surface: World War I Submarines Built in Seattle and Vancouver by Bill Lightfoot.
Photo courtesy of Tim Sandry.
SS-N890kProposed Installation of 1/2 K.W. 500, E.J. Simon Set for submarines N-1 (SS-53), N-2 (SS-54) & N-3 (SS-55), 9 August 1917.National Archives Identifier: 83833147
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
SS-133
0813316		 188k Lt William Robert Munroe was the 1st CO of the N-3 (SS-55). He would reach the rank as Vice Admiral. Text courtesy of wikipedia.org.
USN photo # 80-G-49323 via history.navy.mil
N-boats 549k Following sea trials in Puget Sound, N-3 (SS-55), with sister ships N-1 (SS-53), and N-2 (SS-54), departed the Navy Yard 21 November 1917. The three submarines arrived at New London 7 February 1918.
Fighting ice. The tender Savannah (AS-8) plows alead through the ice of Long Island Sound for the three N-boats as they near the end of their 7,000 mile journey from the more temperate waters of Puget Sound. A canvas dodger remains as the protection for the bridge watch. 		Text courtesy of DANFS.
Photo courtesy of Puget Sound Maritime Historical Society, Caldwell Collection from Beneath the Surface: World War I Submarines Built in Seattle and Vancouver by Bill Lightfoot.
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.
Hen and Chicks 244k Photo entitled "Hen and Chicks" shows the Minelayer Shawmut (Id.No. 1255 / CM-4) is seen in Dry Dock 2 of the Boston Navy Yard on 17 April 1918, outward of submarines N-1 (SS-53), N-2 (SS-54), and N-3 (SS-55). Boston Navy Yard photo # 3734, from the National Park Service, Boston National Historical Park, cat.no. BOSTS-13838, courtesy of Stephen P. Carlson, Preservation Specialist, Boston NHP, Charlestown Navy Yard.
N-3 72k View looking forward from the fairwater, while N-3 (SS-55) was underway during a training voyage out of the New London Submarine Base, Groton, Connecticut, circa late 1918. Note the "SC-Tube" type hydrophone (horizontal tube atop a short post) mounted on N-3's foredeck. USNHC photograph # NH 104982. Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.
N-3 41k Crew members on and by her fairwater, while she was underway during a training voyage out of the New London Submarine Base, Groton, Connecticut, circa late 1918. USNHC photograph # NH 104983. Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.
N-3 53k View looking aft from atop the fairwater, while N-3 (SS-55) was underway during a training voyage out of the New London Submarine Base, Groton, Connecticut, circa late 1918. USNHC photograph # NH 104981. Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007.
E-2, H-1, G-2, N-3 & 7 110k N-3 (SS-55) & N-7 (SS-59) are outboard and closest to the camera in this Winter 1918 photo at New London, CT. Other boats are H-1 (SS-28), G-2 (SS-27), & E-2 (SS-25). Photograph from the album of Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Edward D. Porges. Donated by his daughter, Gail Porges Guggenheim, 2007. USNHC photograph Photo #: NH 104987 via Robert Hurst.
New London 549k U.S. submarine going to sea for practice, circa 1918:
From right to left, two subs in the photo to the right, You can just see the sterns and a flag. Class/s unknown.
D-boat in mid-river. She is ballasted down aft so that her props, rudder, and aft diving planes clear the ice in the river. Next to pier is the G-3 (SS-31), the other two boats alongside the pier are actually EB design N-class boats, ( N-1, 2 & 3). The arrangement of the towing fairlead bullnose, the towing shackle, and the bow plane arrangement all match EB design N-boats. You can see Conn College on the hill in the background. 		Photo & text i.d. courtesy of David Johnston& Ric Hednan .
Photographer: Western Newspaper Union.
National Archives Identifier: 45512000
Local Identifier: 165-WW-331E-7.
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
New London 145k N-3 (SS-55), underway on 19 June 1919. Source: Historic New England, Nathaniel L. Stebbins Collection, Photo No. PC047.02.5620.24828 via Mike Green.
New London 599k N-3 (SS-55), showing ship's crew at the New London submarine base Connecticut circa 1919. N-1 (SS-53), and N-2 (SS-54) are in the background. Source: US Naval History Heritage and Command, Photo No. NH 45627 via Mike Green.
N-3 111k Portside view of the N-3 (SS-55), possibly going up the St. Lawrence River, circa 1921. One of the first submarines to navigate the St. Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, she put in at Halifax, Quebec, Montreal, and Port Dalhousie before arriving Toledo, 25 June 1921. Text courtesy of DANFS.
USN photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org.
US Fleet Problem Number VI 1.72k Control Force Employment Schedule, 4 January to 1 March 1926. US Fleet Problem Number VI. Photo courtesy of Steve Ireland.
View the N-3 (SS-55)
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
PigBoats.COM TM, a Historic Look at Submarines
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