AA-2 and AA-3 under construction at Fore River Shipbuilding in Quincy MA., a sub-contractor of the Electric Boat Corporation. The AA-2 is on the left and the AA-3 on the right. View is from the bow looking aft. Handwritten hull numbers can be seen at the top of the image. These numbers were written in long after the photo was taken, because at the time of the photo the Navy had designated these boats SF-2 and SF-3. They would never officially carry a designation in the SS series.
Between the two hulls workmen are assembling what look to be frame members for the torpedo tube installation. Other pieces, yet to be assembled, are scattered below both the AA-2 and the AA-3.
Photo date is July 16, 1917. The United States has been at war with the Central Powers since April 6, 1917, four months, at the time this photo was taken. It would still be four more months before U.S. submarines would sail the Atlantic and take up stations in the European Theater of Operations against Germany.
Photo courtesy of Wendy Gulley, Submarine Force Library & Museum, Groton, CT.
Taken on the same day as the photo above, this is a view from aft looking forwards. The AA-3 is now on the left and the AA-2 is on the right. Again, incorrect handwritten hull numbers at the top of the image. Note all the scaffolding material between the two hulls. These were double hull boats and the framework for both the inner and outer hulls can be seen on the left.
Photo courtesy of Wendy Gulley, Submarine Force Library & Museum, Groton, CT.
View from the bow once more, this time on October 4, 1917. The workmen are aware photos are being taken and pose for the camera. This time the handwritten names at the top say AA-2 and AA-3, which is correct. By the time of this photo Fore River Shipbuilding had been bought out by Bethlehem Steel and was now known as Bethlehem Quincy. In the center two men flank what look to be compressed gas bottles. If progress as measured from the last two photos seem slow, it was. Higher priority projects at the shipyard were taking up the time and efforts of the yard workers and construction of these two boats crawled along. Neither would be launched for at least two more years.
Between the hulls is another building way. The white sign reads "Hull 282". This is a Bethlehem Quincy internal hull number. They are about to build their 282nd vessel. It will become the USS R-1 (SS-78) The older photos show this area piled with lumber and scaffolding. It is obviously set up for a smaller vessel. Laying along this building slip are hull plating sections. It is not clear if they are for the R-1 or one of the two bigger boats.
Photo courtesy of Wendy Gulley, Submarine Force Library & Museum, Groton, CT.
AA-2 afloat for the first time on September 6, 1919 in the Weymouth Fore River. AA-2 and AA-3 were built without the trainable torpedo tubes in the superstructure. They had already been proven useless on AA-1.
U.S. Navy photo
The now renamed T-2 underway on her builder's trials, late summer 1921, location unknown but it is possibly Cape Cod Bay, MA. She still does not have a permanent bridge fairwater installed, a common practice for Electric Boat subs at this time. It will be installed later.
Many thanks to Charles R. Hinman, Education & Outreach Director, USS Bowfin Submarine Museum & Park and the Bowfin Museum, Pearl Harbor, HI.
February 25, 1922 the USS T-2 (SF-2) is sitting in drydock in Norfolk Navy Yard, Portsmouth, VA. Snow that had fallen the previous night can be seen on the dry dock floor. Temperatures that day were up into the lower 40's and the sun can be seen slanting in with late afternoon warmth bringing long shadows.
As flaws in the design and construction of the T-class were becoming evident there were attempts made to sort out the problems. What the specific reason for this drydocking on this chilly February day are unknown at this time. Largely considered to be a failure, T-2 would be decommissioned just 17 months later and sent un-mourned to the reserve fleet in Philadelphia. She would be scrapped in 1931.
