K-6

From PigBoats.COM

K-6 sliding down the ways at the Fore River Shipbuilding yard in Quincy, MA, March 26, 1914. Yard workers are bundled against the chilly March air in Massachusetts.

This is a good view of the rotating bow cap that covered the muzzle ends of the torpedo tubes. There are two openings in the cap, not seen in this photo because the cap is rotated to the closed position with the two openings covered by the bow stem. To fire the tubes, the cap would be rotated to a diagonal position so that tubes 1 and 4 or 2 and 3 would be open. Those two tubes would be fired then the cap rotated so that the other two tubes could be fired.

Also visible is the "mushroom" anchor in its housing in the keel, behind the bow cap and below the folded bow planes.

The wooden launch cradle is visible below the bow. Once the hull becomes fully waterborne the cradle will drop off and float away. It will be retrieved by a yard tug and reused.

Photo courtesy of the Massachusetts Digital Commonwealth.

K-6 in a busy harbor at an unknown location, 1915-1916. There are numerous ships in the background, many of which seem to be sailing vessels.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

K-6 sporting her WWI era "Dazzle" camouflage at Key West, FL., 1917. This radical paint scheme was intended to confuse an enemy, with the intention of making it difficult to determine the boat's size, course, and speed, making a fire control solution challenging. Actual tests showed this to not give the advantage intended, and the paint scheme was removed in favor of the standard haze gray before she deployed to the Azores.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

K-6 with several other submarines moored at what is likely Submarine Base New London, CT., approximately 1919.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman

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