USS D-1
USS Narwhal/D-1 , also known as "Submarine No. 17", was the lead ship of the [United States United States D-class submarine|D-class submarine|D-class] submarines of the United States Navy. She was the first ship of the USN to be named for the narwhal, a gray and white arctic whale which averages in length, the male of which has a long, helical ivory tusk of commercial value.
Design
The D-class submarines were enlarged versions of the preceding C class, the first American submarines armed with four torpedo tubes. They had a length of overall, a beam of and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and submerged. The D-class boats had a crew of 1 officer and 14 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of.For surface running, they were powered by two gasoline engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the boats had a range of at and at submerged.
The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They did not carry reloads for them.
Construction
Narwhals keel was laid down by Fore River Shipbuilding Company, in Quincy, Massachusetts, under a subcontract from Electric Boat Company, of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 8 April 1909, sponsored by Mrs. Alice Davison, the wife of Gregory C. Davison, the vice president of Electric Boat, and daughter of Rear Admiral Edwin M. Shepard. Narwhal was commissioned on 23 November 1909.Service history
Narwhal joined the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet, based at Newport, Rhode Island. Narwhal was renamed D-1 on 17 November 1911. She operated on the diving grounds in Cape Cod and Narragansett Bays, Long Island and Block Island Sounds and Chesapeake Bay, and off Norfolk, Virginia; on target ranges proving torpedoes; experimental operations; and cruises along the East Coast.From 20 January – 11 April 1913, the submarine flotilla cruised to the Caribbean Sea, and from 5 January – 21 April 1914 visited Gulf and Florida ports.
During World War I, D-1 trained crews and classes of officers and served in experiments in the Third Naval District. After overhaul, D-1 was placed in commission in reserve on 9 September 1919, continuing her work of training new submariners along with experimental and development work.