Built under yard No 77 by the Union Iron Works, San Francisco, California for the USS Navy.
10 December laid down.
14 January 1903 launched as the USS PIKE (SS-6) sponsored by Mrs. Frank Baker Zahm, the wife of the naval constructor at Union Iron Works. One of the Plunger class.
Displacement 107 tons surfaced, 123 tons submerged. Dim. 19.5 x 3.6m
Powered by one Otto gas engine, 160 hp, ; Electric Dynamo motor, 150 hp., speed surface 8, submerged 7.
Fuel capacity 767 gallon.
Armament 1 – 18 inch torpedo tube, forward, carried 5 torpedoes.
Crew 7.
28 May 1903 commissioned under command of Lt. Arthur MacArthur, Jr. at the Mare Island Navy Yard.
PIKE operated out of the Mare Island Navy Yard for over three years, operating principally in experimental and training roles. Following the earthquake and subsequent fire at San Francisco on 18 April 1906, members of PIKE's crew took part in the relief efforts in the wake of the disaster.
Decommissioned on 28 November 1906, PIKE remained inactive until 8 June 1908, when she was recommissioned for local operations with the Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, off the Pacific coast. She remained attached to this unit into June of 1912. Toward the end of this period, PIKE was renamed A-5 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 6) on 17 November 1911.
A-5 arrived at the Puget Sound Navy Yard on 26 June 1912, and, two days later, was placed in reserve. Following two and a half years of inactivity there, A-5 was loaded on board the collier HECTOR on 15 February 1915 (her sistership A-5, Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 4, was loaded the next day). A-5 made the voyage to the Philippines as deck cargo. She arrived at Olongapo on 26 March. Launched on 13 April, she was recommissioned on 17 April, and assigned to the Asiatic Fleet.
Shortly after the United States entered World War I, A-5 sank while moored at the Cavite Navy Yard, on 15 April 1917, her sinking attributed to a slow leak in a main ballast tank. She was raised on 19 April and, following reconditioning, returned to active service. Like her sisterships, she patrolled the waters off the entrance to Manila Bay during the course of the war with the Central Powers.
A-5, given the alphanumeric hull number SS-6 on 17 July 1920, was decommissioned on 25 July 1921. Earmarked as a target vessel, the submarine torpedo boat was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 January 1922.
Malawi 2010 K350 sg?, scott?
Source: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships
Peter Crichton
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