Skip to main content
Naval History and Heritage Command

Naval History and Heritage Command

Tags
Related Content
Topic
  • Boats-Ships--Submarine
Document Type
  • Ship History
Wars & Conflicts
File Formats
Location of Archival Materials

B-3 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 12)

1907-1922 

(Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 12: displacement 145 tons (surface), 173 tons (submerged); length 82 feet 5 inches; beam 12 feet 6 inches; draft 10 feet 7 inches; speed 9 knots (surface), 8 knots (submerged); complement 10; armament 2 18-inch torpedo tubes; class Viper)

Tarantula (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 12) was laid down at Quincy, Mass., on 5 September 1905 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Co. as subcontractor for the Electric Boat Co., the successor to the J. P. Holland Torpedo Boat Co.; launched on 30 March 1907; sponsored by Mrs. George F. Radford; and commissioned on 3 December 1907, Lt. Joseph F. Daniels in command.

Tarantula operated along the Atlantic coast with the 1st and 2d Submarine Flotillas on training and experimental exercises until going into reserve at the Charleston Navy Yard on 6 November 1909. She was recommissioned on 15 April 1910 and served with the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet until 9 May 1911, when she was assigned to the Reserve Torpedo Group based at the Charleston Navy Yard. While still there, she was renamed B-3 on 17 November 1911. Decommissioned on 4 December 1912, the submarine was towed to Norfolk two days later and loaded on board Ajax (Collier No. 15) for transfer to the Asiatic Station. Arriving at Cavite, Philippine Islands, on 30 April 1913, B-3 was launched from Ajax on 12 May. She was recommissioned on 2 September 1913 and remained in the Philippines where she served with Submarine Division 4, Torpedo Flotilla, Asiatic Fleet.

After World War I broke out in Europe early in the summer of 1914, she carried out patrols to prevent belligerent warships from violating the neutrality of Philippine waters until the United States entered the conflict in the spring of 1917. Then, through the armistice, she continued much the same work, ostensibly to protect the archipelago from the German Navy, a force that long before had been driven from the oceans.

Decommissioned at Cavite on 25 July 1921, B-3 was subsequently sunk as a target. Her name was struck from the Navy list on 17 January 1922.

 

14 June 2004

Published: Thu Sep 01 18:51:16 EDT 2016