Name USS H-1 Renamed H-1, 17 November 1911 Launched 6 May 1913 Builder Union Iron Works | Commissioned 1 December 1913 Struck 12 April 1920 Length 46 m | |
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Laid down 22 March 1911, as Seawolf Fate Run aground, 12 March 1920
Lost during salvage, 24 March 1920 | ||
USS H-1 (SS-28), the lead ship of her class of submarine of the United States Navy, was originally named Seawolf, making her the first ship of the U.S. Navy to be named for the seawolf.
Seawolf was laid down by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California. She was renamed on 17 November 1911, launched on 6 May 1913 sponsored by Miss Lesley Jean Makins, and commissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on 1 December 1913, Lieutenant Henry M. Jensen in command.
Service history
The new submarine was attached to Torpedo Flotilla 2, Pacific Fleet, and operated along the West Coast out of San Pedro, California. During various exercises and patrols, she traveled the coast from Los Angeles, California to lower British Columbia, often in company with her sister ships H-2 and sometimes H-3.
Sailing from San Pedro, California on 17 October 1917, she reached New London, Connecticut on 8 November. For the remainder of World War I, she was based there and patrolled Long Island Sound, frequently with officer students from the submarine school on board.
H-1 and H-2 sailed for San Pedro, California on 6 January 1920, transiting the Panama Canal on 20 February. On 12 March, as H-1 made her way up the coast of Mexico's Baja California Peninsula, she ran aground on a shoal off Santa Margarita Island.
Four men — including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander James R. Webb — died trying to reach shore. Vestal pulled H-1 off the rocks in the morning of 24 March, but in only 45 minutes, the submarine sank in some 50 ft (15 m) of water. Further salvage effort was abandoned. Her name was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 April, and she was sold for scrap in June 1920, but never recovered.
Her wreck was rediscovered in 1992.