USS H-1 (SS-28)

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Career
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:	6 May 1913
Commissioned:	1 December 1913
Fate:	run aground, lost during salvage
Stricken:	12 April 1920
General Characteristics
Displacement:	358 tons
Length:	150 feet 4 inches
Beam:	15 feet 10 inches
Draft:	12 feet 5 inches
Speed:	14 knots
Complement:	25 officers and men
Armament:	four 18-inch torpedo tubes

USS H-1 (SS-28), the lead ship of the H-class submarines, was originally named Seawolf, making her the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seawolf, a solitary fish with strong, prominent teeth and projecting tusks that give it a savage look. Her keel was laid down by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California. She was renamed on 17 November 1911, launched 6 May 1913 sponsored by Miss Lesley Jean Makins, and commissioned at Mare Island Navy Yard on 1 December 1913 with Lieutenant Henry M. Jensen in command.

The new submarine was attached to the Second Torpedo Flotilla, Pacific Fleet, and operated along the West Coast out of the submarine base at San Pedro, California. On various exercises and patrols she traveled the coast from Los Angeles, California, to lower British Columbia, often in company with H-2 (SS-29) and sometimes H-3 (SS-30).

Sailing from San Pedro, California, on 17 October 1917, she reached New London, Connecticut, 22 days later via Acapulco, Balboa, Key West, Florida, Charleston, South Carolina, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. For the remainder of World War I, she was based there and patrolled Long Island Sound, frequently with officer students from the submarine school on board.

H-1 and H-2 sailed for San Pedro, California, on 6 January 1920, transiting the Panama Canal on 20 February via Norfolk, Virginia, Key West, Florida, and Havana, Cuba. On 12 March 1920, as H-1 made her way up the coast of Baja California, Mexico, the submarine went aground on a tricky shoal off Santa Margarita Island.

Four men, including the commanding officer, Lieutenant Commander James R. Webb, died as they tried to reach shore. Vestal (AR-4), a repair ship, pulled H-1 off the rocks in the morning of 24 March, only to have her sink 45 minutes later in some 50 feet of water. Salvage was abandoned. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 12 April 1920, and her hulk sold for salvage scrap in June 1920.

References

This article includes information collected from the Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships.