A-4

A newly completed Moccasin (Submarine No. 5) moored at the Holland facility at New Suffolk, NY., approximately 1903. It was quite normal for these boats to sit moored with a stern down angle, especially if there were no torpedoes onboard. The engine, motor, and compressors were all aft, causing this trim downward.

In the background is the incomplete hulk of the Holland submarine Plunger of 1895 (NOT the USS Plunger (Submarine No. 2)). She was built under a Navy contract but was a complete failure and it was never commissioned into the Navy. The boat was also known as the Holland V. Her hulk was retained by the builder until 1917 when she was finally scrapped.

U.S. Navy photo

USS Mocassin (Submarine No. 5) crew muster for April 15, 1910. Data is incomplete due to lost records.

Crew Muster April 15, 1910

McWhorter, Ernest D. - Ensign - age 26 - Born: Mississippi

Aber, Edward - MM 1c - age 27 - Born: New Jersey

Dix, Louis A. - EM 1c - age 23 - Born: Wisconsin

Featherstone, James A. - CEM - age 28 - Born: Pennsylvania

Leahey, Daniel - CGM - age 28 - Born: New York

Littlefield, Roy C. - CMM - age 27 - Born: Massachusetts

Mason, Frank L. - EM 2c - age 23 - Born: Massachusetts

Purtell, George E. - GM 1c - age 26 - Born: Massachusetts

Porter, James - GM 1c - age 29 - Born: Virginia

Riley, John - MM 2c - age 23 - Born: West Virginia

Woodward, Harry C. - EM 2c - age 22 - Born: New York

Wolfington, James H. - GM 1c - age 26 - Born: Illinois

Thank you to Linda Talbott of the US GenWeb Census Project® for providing this information.

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A four photo gallery of the Moccasin sitting in reserve status at the Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA, late 1907 or early 1908. In each photo, Moccasin can be seen hauled out on a land-based cradle in the far left of the photos. These are large high resolution photos, so click on each one to expand them.

This view is looking east, across the south branch of the Elizabeth River, with the Berkley district in the background. Dredging and construction work are underway to create a new basin for the mooring of destroyers and surface torpedo boats. In the foreground is a street that used to be called Brown Avenue, but is now called Stevens Street. It is wholly within the perimeter of the current Naval Shipyard.

Not long after these photos were taken, the Moccasin would be returned to service, refurbished, and loaded aboard the collier USS Caesar (Collier No. 16) as deck cargo along with her sister Adder (Submarine No. 3). They would be transported to the Philippines were they would serve out their days with the Asiatic Fleet.

It is interesting to note the presence, in the fourth photo, of the ancient Civil War monitor USS Canonicus (with the number 6 just visible on her bow) sitting in reserve in the background. Canonicus was a single turret monitor, an updated version of the famous Monitor of Civil War fame. Why Canonicus lingered at the Navy yard far after her usefulness to the Navy ended is a story of bureaucratic inertia and an unrealistic adherence to outdated naval strategy. But her presence proved to be providential. The popular Jamestown Exposition of 1907 was ongoing at Sewells Point in Norfolk so the Canonicus was partially refurbished and anchored out in the harbor for the massive crowds to see. Much of the "modern" Navy of 1907 came to the Exposition, and Canonicus provided a link with the glorious past. Shortly after these photos were taken, her usefulness now truly at an end, Canonicus would be sold for scrap.

Photos courtesy of NARA.

The interior of the USS Moccasin showing her torpedo tube and two reload torpedoes. The photo was taken at Cavite, Philippine Islands, circa 1912. What look to be torpedoes outboard on each side are actually air flasks. The torpedoes are resting on wood "skids", called that because they were "skidded" on the thwart ship rails seen running from side to side in the photo, to align it with the tube for loading the torpedo.

The weapons shown here are Whitehead Mark 3 torpedoes. They were 11.6 feet long and 17.7 inches wide to fit into the tubes of the A-class submarines. They carried a warhead with 118 pounds of wet gun-cotten and had a range of 800 yards at 27.5 knots.

An interesting tidbit is the fan mounted above and to the right of the torpedo tube. Use to provide the crew with some air circulation and cooling. It also prevented the accumulation of hydrogen gas to pocket in one place as the battery out-gassed during charging.

The interior of the A-class boats was one large space with no bulkheads. Where this photo was taken from is approximately the center of the submarine. Below the deck seen in this photo is the ship's storage battery used for electrical power for lighting and propulsion while submerged. The battery is covered by wood planks and then has a canvas covering that is stretched tight and then shellacked in place or may be painted to make it watertight.

U.S. Navy photo

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