USS M-1

"United States M-class submarine" redirects here. For other submarine classes with the same name, see M-class submarine.

USS M-1 underway during acceptance trials, off Provincetown, Massachusetts, 26 June 1916
Class overview
Name	M class
Builders	Electric Boat Company (design) Fore River Shipbuilding, Quincy, Massachusetts
Operators	United States Navy
Preceded by	L class
Succeeded by	AA-1 class
Built	1914–1918
In commission	1918–1922
Planned	1
Completed	1
Scrapped	1
History
United States
Name	M-1
Builder	Electric Boat Company (design) Fore River Shipbuilding, Quincy, Massachusetts
Cost	$618,899.30 (hull and machinery)[1]
Laid down	2 July 1914
Launched	14 September 1915
Sponsored by	Miss Sara Dean Roberts
Commissioned	16 February 1918
Decommissioned	15 March 1922
Stricken	16 March 1922
Identification	Hull symbol: SS-47 (17 July 1920) Call sign: NYY
Fate	Sold for scrap, 25 September 1922
General characteristics [2][3]
Type	Submarine
Displacement	488 long tons (496 t) surfaced 676 long tons (687 t) submerged
Length	197 ft (60 m)
Beam	19 ft (5.8 m)
Draft	11 ft (3.4 m)
Installed power	840 bhp (630 kW) diesel 340 hp (250 kW) electric
Propulsion	NELSECO diesel engines 2 × Electro Dynamic Company electric motors 2 × 60-Cell batteries 2 × Propellers
Speed	14 kn (26 km/h; 16 mph) surfaced 10.5 kn (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) submerged
Range	2,750 nmi (5,090 km; 3,160 mi) at 11 kn (20 km/h; 13 mph) surfaced
Test depth	150 ft (46 m)
Capacity	28,422 US gal (107,590 L; 23,666 imp gal) fuel
Complement	2 officers 26 enlisted
Armament	4 × 18 inch (450 mm) bow torpedo tubes (8 torpedoes) 1 × 3 in (76 mm)/23 caliber deck gun

USS M-1 (SS-47), also known as "Submarine No. 46", was a unique submarine of the United States Navy. Although built as a fully operational boat, M-1 was built with a radically different double-hulled design. This was in marked contrast to Simon Lake's and Electric Boat's single-hulled concepts. Ultimately shown to be unsuccessful, no other submarines of this class were ever built, although future advances in construction, and metallurgy science, made the double hull design a standard for the USN.

Design

A double hull design moves most of the fuel and ballast tanks out of the pressure hull and into the spaces between the outer and inner hulls. Electric Boat had built only one other double hull design, EB31A for Imperial Russia,^[4] and thus lacked experience in this hull type. Due to the boat's still fairly small size the tankage space was very tight and difficult to maintain. It also resulted in a complicated venting and flooding arrangement that at times led to an uneven distribution of ballast water. This led to serious problems in stability when making the transition from submerged to surface.^[5] To save weight in the pressure hull, the structural strength was reduced, making her test depth only 150 ft (46 m).^[6] M-1 was built with the same armament and speed as the preceding L-class, but she was larger, due to the double hull design. Her batteries were also in one large compartment, forward of the control room, as opposed to two compartments, fore and aft of control room, as in other Electric boat designs. She also had heaters to keep the crew warm in northern waters and an icebox for food storage.^[4] The partially retractable 3 in (76 mm)/23 caliber deck gun, designed for submarines, and intended for incorporation in the L-class, was installed on M-1 prior to installation on any of the L-class.

Construction

M-1's keel was laid down on 2 July 1914, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, in Quincy, Massachusetts, a subcontractor to the Electric Boat Company, of Groton, Connecticut. She was launched on 14 September 1915, sponsored by Miss Sara Dean Roberts, and commissioned on 16 February 1918.^[7]

Service history

Following commissioning, M-1 was assigned to Submarine Division 2 (SubDiv2), and was home ported at Newport, Rhode Island. Unlike most other US submarines, she was not deployed overseas in World War I. For the next three years, she operated off the East Coast, training submariners. During her last year of active service, she was under the operational control of SubDiv 5 and SubDiv 3.^[7]

Fate

After four years of testing and training service, M-1 was decommissioned at Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, on 15 March 1922, struck from the Naval Vessel Register the following day, and was sold for scrap on 25 September 1922, to Joseph G. Hitner, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.^[7]

References

1. Navy List 1921, p. 767.
2. Friedman 1995, p. 307.
3. Priolo & M-1.
4. Friedman 1995, p. 88.
5. Alden 1979, p. 5.
6. Friedman 1995, p. 83.
7. Cressman 2021.

Bibliography

• "Table 21 - Ships on Navy List June 30, 1919". Congressional Serial Set. U.S. Government Printing Office: 767. 1921.
• Priolo, Gary. "M-1 (SS-47)". Navsource.net. Retrieved 22 October 2025.
• Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
• Cressman, Robert J. (12 January 2021). "M-1 (Submarine No. 47)". Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. Navy Department, Naval History and Heritage Command. Retrieved 22 October 2025. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Alden, John D. (1979). The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy: A Design and Construction History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-187-0.

External links

• Photo gallery of USS M-1 at NavSource Naval History