F-3

Construction and Launching

F-3 in frame on the construction slip at the Moran Company yards, November 3, 1909. The yard was located at the foot of Charles St., in an area currently partially occupied by the Port of Seattle and right next to the football stadium. Over the course of its existence the yard changed names eight times, with the most recent name being Vigor Industrial - Seattle. It is still in operation to this day.

Photo courtesy of Bill Lightfoot, author of Beneath the Surface.

F-3 with hull plates riveted to the framework. Photo at the Moran Company yard, approximately 1910.

Photo courtesy of Bill Lightfoot, author of Beneath the Surface.

F-3 nearly finished. The rotating bow cap for the torpedo tubes has been installed, along with the bow planes and most of the superstructure. September 30, 1911.

Photo courtesy of Bill Lightfoot, author of Beneath the Surface.

The stern of the F-3 is shown here. The propeller shaft tubes can be clearly seen, along with the support structure for the rudders. A superstructure skeg would be built that connects the rudder structure to the aft deck.

Photo courtesy of Bill Lightfoot, author of Beneath the Surface.

The F-3's stern shown nearly complete, June 30, 1911. Both propellers are installed, along with the skeg, the rudders, and the stern diving planes.

Photo courtesy of Bill Lightfoot, author of Beneath the Surface.

The launch of the F-3 as covered by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 6, 1912.

Image courtesy of Bill Lightfoot, author of Beneath the Surface.

Builder's Trials, Elliot Bay

F-3 on Elliot Bay with Seattle in the background. The shed to the left of the periscope is the building shed at the Moran Company shipyard where the F-3 was built. The F-3 is going to or has just made a trial dive. A skiff from the shipyard is standing by. The hill in the background is Beacon Hill to the south of Seattle.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

F-3 on Elliot Bay off the Seattle waterfront. The submarine is about to dive or has just surfaced from a trial dive. The yard crew making the ship's trials can be seen on deck talking with the men in the skiff. Seen behind the submarine to the right is Queen Anne Hill north of the present-day location of the Space Needle. To the left of the bridge fairing is Magnolia Bluff and West Point Lighthouse.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

F-3 on Elliot Bay off the Seattle waterfront. The boat is surfacing from a static (non-moving) dive. She has a slight up angle by the bow. The operation is observed by officials from the shipyard from a launch. A skiff is attending the submarine. Seen behind the submarine to the right is Queen Anne Hill north of the present-day location of the Space Needle. Behind the periscopes is Magnolia Bluff and West Point Lighthouse.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

Builder's Trials, Run to Port Townsend

F-3 making her run north from Seattle up to Port Townsend for her trials there. Puget Sound is a little choppy. Barely seen through the spray is the Allied Signal Bell on the bow.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

A view from the bridge as F-3 makes her way up Puget Sound to Port Townsend, WA. She is running at a good clip judging by the bow wave.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

The view looking aft on the F-3 on her run north from Seattle up to Port Townsend. The trademark white exhaust from the twin NELSECO diesels can be seen coming from the exhaust ports on either side of the hull below the flag staff.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

Trial crew from the Moran Company pose on the bow while on the trip north to Port Townsend, summer of 1912. The headland seen on the left is Point No Point on the Kitsap Pennisula. The man closest to the camera is Julius Francis Rausch Jr, an employee of Moran and original owner of these family photos. Since she had not yet been turned over to the Navy, there would have been few, if any, Navy personnel aboard for this trip. The builder is responsible for putting the boat through its initial trials to ensure that it will operate as intended and that it could meet the specifications spelled out in the Navy contract.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

F-3 moored to a dock on the Port Townsend waterfront, likely the old ferry dock at the foot of Quincy St. The town has changed little since this photo was taken in 1912. The building in the background that says "Paints, Oil, & Wall Paper" still exists today, with the same facade. On the boat the framework for the canvas bridge cover can be seen. An unidentified Chief Petty Officer is seen on the bridge structure. He is aboard to observe the trials on behalf of the Navy.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

F-3 backs away from a dock on the Port Townsend waterfront, summer of 1912. She is doing this on battery power since the diesel engines are direct drive and only go forward. The canvas bridge cover has been erected on the pipe framework at this time. In the background is seen the north end of Marrowstone Island across Port Townsend Bay. View is looking south.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

The F-3 in Port Townsend Bay while under builder's trials, summer of 1912. She is running on battery power as there is no diesel exhaust present. In the background is seen the north end of Marrowstone Island to the left and on the right is Indian Island across Port Townsend Bay. View is looking south.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

Measured Mile Run and Port Townsend Trials

The F-3 running the measured mile off Indian Island. The trial crew are using various instruments and stop watches to run the course. Seen in the distance is the Kitsap Pennisula and Port Townsend. The view is looking north.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

The F-3 running the measured mile off Indian Island. The trial crew are logging information from the stop watches. The second man from the right is Julius Francis Rausch Jr. Seen in the distance is the Kitsap Pennisula and Port Townsend. The view is looking north.

Photo from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

F-3 on Port Townsend Bay for her performance trials. Behind is the U.S. Revenue Cutter Rush and a four masted schooner. Photo date is June 15, 1912. Port Townsend is a town about 30 miles north of Seattle.

Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society.

F-3 on Port Townsend Bay for her performance trials. The view is looking almost due west, June 15, 1912. Most of the trial crew are topside.

Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society.

F-3 conducting a static dive in Port Townsend Bay, June 15, 1912 as part of her performance trials. There appears to be two men still on the top of the conning tower fairwater so a full dive is not anticipated.

Photo from the Jefferson County Historical Society.

Bremerton Drydocking

The bow of the F-3 seen as the submarine enters the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton for a spell in the drydock. The date is likely the fall of 1912, probably right after commissioning, to prepare her for the homeport shift to San Francisco.

Seen in the background several armored cruisers are moored in the yard. It is a good possibility that they are the USS Pennsylvania (Armored Cruiser No. 4) and the USS Charleston (Cruiser No. 22) of the Pacific Reserve Fleet and also served as a receiving ship at Puget Sound from November 4, 1912 to January 10, 1916. Pennsylvania was at Bremerton having her foremast changed out and replaced by the new cage mast. The second cage mast in unknown. Charleston is between them.

The floating derrick was constructed at Mare Island and was of the same design and construction, only just a little bit smaller than the one they had constructed to go to Pearl Harbor.

Photo is from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

Ensign Kenneth Heron, Commanding Officer of the F-3 sits on the starboard bow plane of the F-3 while in drydock at the Puget Sound Navy Yard.

The torpedo tube bow cap is rotated to open the top starboard and bottom port tubes. In the closed position the openings would have lined up behind the bow stem.

Photo is from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

This photo shows the stern of the F-3 just after the drydock has been pumped down. The movable wing supports are bracing the submarine until the more permanent timber bracing is put in place.

A man on deck can be seen with a loosely coiled heaving line in his hand, no doubt just used in the mooring process in docking the submarine. Several stray timbers are in the water, probably having floated off the submerged dock. Actually, by comparison with the next photo you can see that the dock has not been fully pumped out at this point with the dock floor still awash.

Note the pipe framework around the conning tower. This structure was the frame that held the weather canvases in place making a more enclosed area for the officers and men needing to be topside while underway. The conning tower fairwater itself offered no protection from the elements.

Photo is from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

Civilian yard workmen standing and working on the stern planes of the F-3 while in drydock at the Puget Sound Navy Yard in Bremerton, fall of 1912. At this point the drydock has been fully pumped out and the floor of the dock is fully visible.

Photo is from the private family collection of Mitchell Noll.

Duty in Hawaii

F-3 underway off Honolulu with Diamond Head in the background, 1914-1915.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

The crew of the F-3 on deck, all dressed in foul weather gear. The location is not known but is probably in Hawaii, 1914-1915. A note on the back of the photo states: The crew of the F-3 in their heavy weather togs. I am the 12th from the forward end of the boat. The photo was owned by a crewman or sent to family or friends in person. Note that the physical condition of the photo is poor, with numerous creases.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

A closeup of the photo above showing the Commanding Officer and the Executive Officer of the F-3.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

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Closeups of the crew photo above, showing the men's faces. Unfortunately, we do not have names for these men at this time.

Photos in the private collection of Ric Hedman

F-3 is seen in Honolulu Harbor, 1914-1915. The view is looking directly out the channel to the Pacific Ocean. The sunlight in the photo indicates that the photo was taken in the morning as the sunlight is coming from the east in the photo. This would make it a return from a morning diving exercise same as the one the F-4 never returned from. Sand Island would be off the right side of the photo.

The torpedo loading hatch is open so she may be returning from torpedo practice and the retrieved torpedo is below. Mooring lines are being straightened out on deck as the submarine prepares to moor. A Chief Petty Officer stands on the bow, possibly the C.O.B. (Chief of the Boat).

In the background to the left is the Honolulu Harbor coaling station for ships to replenish their coal supply. The large building behind the submarine is known as the "Channel Wharf", a commercial dock that shows a ship moored almost directly behind the torpedo loading ramp.

The date is probably prior to March 25, 1915 when the F-4 sank. After that date the submarines were ordered to make no more dives, although they did provide assistance during the salvage operations.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

F-3 seen here in Honolulu Harbor, Sand Island is in the background, October, 1915. The submarine seems to be coming into a mooring to the Navy leased pier 5A. Crew are standing on deck with heaving lines in hand and mooring lines on deck. The sub's gangplank is seen laying crosswise over the deck just aft of the conning tower fairwater. On the bridge, behind the periscope in his white uniform, is LTjg Francis W. Scanland, the F-3's Commanding Officer. He relieved LT Leo F. Welch in April 1915. Welch had brought the F-3 to Hawaii.

Seen to the extreme right is the F-2 moored to the submarine tender USS Alert (Submarine Tender No. 4), who is, moored to pier 5. Between the two submarines is a man on a raft, called a paint float, no doubt positioning it to do some hull upkeep before the subs were to head to San Francisco.

The low laying land in the background is known to be Sand Island as the few trees and features on this man-made island are easily identifiable. This identification took some time since neither the Honolulu Harbor Light Station nor the Quarantine Dock is visible in this photo.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

A photo taken prior to the October 31, 1915 sailing shows the F-3 and another unidentified F-class submarine moored to pier 5 in Honolulu Harbor. The Honolulu Light Station building can be seen in the background. An unidentified crewman stands on the deck talking to someone on a dock or possibly another submarine barely seen at the edge of the photo.

At the left edge of the photo are several people in a skiff rowing around the harbor and looking at the submarines, maybe talking to the crewman barely seen standing behind the bridge fairwater. A light wind from the south is blowing the crew's washing hung from a jackline strung between a spar and the bridge. The bow of the F-3 is badly scuffed.

Photo in the private collection of Cory Graff, author of The Navy in Puget Sound.

The USS F-3 and an unidentified F-class submarine moored to Pier 5 in Honolulu Harbor. The photo is supposed to be the F-3 and F-4. Both the F-3 and F-4 were Seattle built boats so, according to other photos evidence the bow planes covers should match. These do not match.

Note the towing yoke attached to the bow of the F-3. Just such a configuration is seen at the bow of the F-3 as she was picking up her tow lines on October 31, 1915 from the cruiser Maryland which was to tow her to San Francisco. These boats did not have the fuel capacity to make such a trip under their own power, so they were towed. You will notice that the scuffing on the bow of the F-3, so evident in the above photo has now been painted implying a later photographic time frame.

Honolulu Harbor is a commercial harbor and had all sorts of access to the public in the early years. At the far right is what seems to be the tender Alert. If this is the Alert the photo had to be taken after its arrival in Honolulu in mid-October of 1915. If that is the case this photo was taken within days of the submarines leaving Hawaii.

Seen in the background is the Honolulu Harbor Light Station on Sand Island at the inner end of the harbor entrance.

U.S. Navy photo.

F-3 outside Pearl Harbor waiting to pick up her tow-line for the tow back to the mainland, October 31, 1915, in a picture likely taken from the fantail of the USS Maryland (Armored Cruiser No. 8). After the sinking of the F-4 the F-class subs were replaced in Hawaii by the newer K-class submarines. The subs were towed because they didn't have the range to make it on their own and were prone to break downs.

The F-3 is flying several signal flags. It looks like the camera caught the flags in mid change. The flag closest to the camera is the "C" or "Charlie" flag meaning "Yes" or "Affirmative", it seems to be in the process of being hoisted. The flag in the rear and partly blocked by the Charlie flag looks to be the "J" or "Juliet" flag meaning "I am going to send a message by semaphore", it seems to be in mid-process of being lowered. These are most likely in response to flag signals from the Maryland who is in the process of taking her in tow.

The towing bridle can be seen attached to a large pin placed through the bow just above the waterline. The men are waiting to receive a shotline from the Maryland that would be attached to a heavier line that would have been, in turn, attached to a towing cable that would require this number of men to just haul it aboard. As it was, halfway through the tow, this heavy line parted and needed to be brought aboard again. The F-3 was cast off from the tow off the mouth to San Francisco Bay to make her way in on her own power.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

Return to California

F-3 sailing through the Golden Gate on November 11, 1915 after a very rough 15 day tow behind the USS Maryland (Armored Cruiser No. 8). These submarines didn't have the range to make a 2,100 mile passage with their own fuel reserves. They were very much still coastal vessels. The Maryland had escorted four K-class submarines to Honolulu to replace the remaining F-boats that had been recalled to the mainland as a result of the F-4 sinking.

Behind the bridge of the submarine, barely seen on top of the point of land is the Bonita Point lighthouse, the north headland of the entrance through the Golden Gate. The body of water behind the submarine's bridge and to the left of the darker headland is Bonita Cove.

On the left on the bridge, one of the two men may be the Commanding Officer, LTjg Francis W. Scanland. On the right, an enlisted man has the helm. The unusual canvas object protruding from the side of the bridge is a head, a toilet system to be used while at sea on the surface. These submarines had rudimentary on-board toilet systems.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

F-3 is shown here in drydock with the cruiser USS Cleveland (Cruiser No. 19) at the Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA. circa 1916. The F-3 spent some time in reserve status at Mare Island during this period, so this may have been a pre or post-layup drydocking maintenance period.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

Chief Yeoman Peacock posing for this photo on the deck of the F-3 aft of the bridge fairwater. Chief Peacock's rate is Yeoman, a man who handled the subs clerical administrative duties and paperwork. There is a possibility that he is a Gunner's Mate. The two rating badges look similar from a distance and the photo is somewhat indistinct so we are not totally sure. There are two other submarines behind him, the classes and ID of the vessels is unknown. Photo circa 1916.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

F-3 on the left, tied up inboard of the H-3 (Submarine No. 30) circa 1916-1917 at San Pedro, California. There are several patrol vessels in the background.

Photo courtesy of Carolyn Fields Snider whose uncle, Harry Fields, took the photo.

George Glover Photo Collection

Several years ago, PigBoats.COM was the happy recipient of a collection of photos taken by a former F-3 crewmember, Quartermaster 2nd Class George "Ray" Glover, USN. George's grandson, Jim Loushin, contacted us and gave us permission to post these cherished family photos of his grandfather's time in the Navy. All of the photos depict the F-3 and her crew in 1918 and 1919 as she operated off the California coast, based in San Pedro (Los Angeles). The first 14 photos depict F-3 made up as the German U-boat U-65. She had a starring role in a 1918 movie about the ongoing war in the Atlantic, but unfortunately the movie and it's title have been lost to time. There are also some nice photos of Ray and his shipmates, and some detailed photos of the interior of the boat. All in all these photos give us a very significant look at the insides of an F-class submarine and their general arrangement and an interesting glimpse into the life of a submarine sailor in the early 20th century. This great collection can be found at this link. Enjoy!

SPECIAL NOTE. The Glover photos are the personal property of the Glover/Loushin family and MAY NOT BE USED OR REPOSTED without their specific written permission.

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