USS H-3 (SS-30)

H-3 underway, c. 1922.
Career
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:	3 July 1913
Commissioned:	16 January 1914
Decommissioned:	23 October 1922
Fate:	scrapped
Stricken:	18 December 1930
General Characteristics
Displacement:	358 tons
Length:	150 feet 4 inches
Beam:	15 feet 10 inches
Draft:	12 feet 5 inches
Speed:	14 knots
Depth:	200 feet
Complement:	25 officers and men
Armament:	4 x 18 in (457 mm) torpedo tubes

'USS ''H-3'' (SS-30)' was a ''H''-class submarine originally named ''Garfish'', the only ship of the United States Navy named for the garfish, a popular target for recreational anglers. Her keel was laid down by the Moran Company of Seattle, Washington. She was renamed ''H-3'' on 17 November 1911, launched on 3 July 1913 sponsored by Miss Helen MacEwan, and commissioned at Puget Sound on 16 January 1914 with Lieutenant (junior grade) William R. Munroe in command.

After shakedown, ''H-3'' was attached to the Pacific Fleet and began operations along the coast from lower California to Washington, exercising frequently with ''H-1'' and ''H-2''. While engaged in operations off the northern California coast, near Eureka, California, with protected cruiser
''Milwaukee'' (C-21)
and submarine tender
''Cheyenne'' (BM-10),
''H-3'' ran aground in heavy fog on the morning of 16 December 1916. The crew were rescued by United States Coast Guard breeches buoy, but after ''Milwaukee'' was also stranded trying to pull the sub off the beach, the United States Navy called in a commercial salvage firm. Their job was especially complicated because ''H-3'' lay high up on a sandy beach, surrounded by quicksand; at low tide she was 75 feet from the water, but at high tide the ocean reached almost 250 feet beyond her. After a month of hard work, ''H-3'' was finally salvaged by being placed on giant log rollers and taken overland to the sea.
Having decommissioned 4 February 1917 while salvage work was still going on, she was relaunched 20 April 1917 at Humboldt Bay. She then returned to San Pedro, California, where she served as flagship of SubDiv 7, participating in exercises and operations along the coast until 1922. ''H-3'', with the entire division, sailed from San Pedro on 25 July 1922 and reached Hampton Roads on 14 September.
''H-3'' decommissioned at Hampton Roads on 23 October 1922. She was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 18 December 1930 and scrapped on 14 September 1931.

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