Highly desirous of developing a submarine that was capable of operating with the fleet, Congress authorized nine more fleet submarines in 1916. Hull numbers 163-171 were set aside for them. Finally approved for construction in 1918 and 1919, these nine boats would become the V-class. The design of these boats rapidly changed as the USN was able to carefully inspect and evaluate surrendered German U-boats at the end of the war. Deeply impressed with the German state-of-the-art, the V-class morphed into a series of different designs, intended to test out the fleet submarine concept, along with new ideas such as minelaying and long range commerce raiding. In the end, the nine V-class boats were built to five distinctly different designs, with the first eight built at the Portsmouth Navy Yard and Mare Island, and the last (Cuttlefish) by Electric Boat. Ultimately, none of these boats was completely successful, being either too radical, too large, or too small. An underdeveloped diesel engine industrial base in the U.S. provided engines that lacked sufficient power and reliability, and thus the boats could not operate directly with the fleet. Their true value, though, laid in the fact that the Navy was able to experiment with them during peacetime and find what worked and what didn't. The lessons learned provided the Navy with the experience needed to produce the war winning later fleet boats in time for WWII.
These boats were being built and commissioned during a time that the Navy changed its naming convention for submarines. They were authorized for construction under the names V-1 through V-9. Submarines V-1 through V-6 actually made it into commission with these names, but the Navy changed the naming convention on February 19, 1931 and thus V-7 through V-9 never carried these names during their commissioned life. The earlier boats were renamed, along with getting new designations in the SS series. Please see this article for a complete explanation of this confusing issue.
V-1/Barracuda, V-2/Bass, and V-3/Bonita (Fleet Submarines)
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman
V-2, V-1 & V-3 moored starboard side to the USS Argonne (AS-10), most likely San Diego, CA circa 1927. The unique shape of the bow was designed with the hope that it would provide better surface sea keeping. It did not work as hoped and these boats proved to be quite wet in heavy seas. Many think the design is reminiscent of a shark with an anchor in its mouth. It was unique in the USN. All three boats have their forward radio mast raised. This mast would penetrate the pressure hull when retracted, being housed between the forward torpedo tubes.
V-4 (SM-1) about ready to launch, aproximately November 6, 1927. The yard has yet to 'dress ship' for the occasion, meaning draping the signal flags from the top of the periscope to the bow and stern and hoisting the Union Jack and American Flag. She was launched on November 10, 1927, probably a few days away, at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine. V-4 was the USN's only purpose-built minelaying submarine, and was the largest submarine built for the USN until the nuclear powered USS Triton (SSRN-586) of 1959.
