USS C-1 (Submarine Number 9) was christened by Miss F. Webster and launched on 4 October 1906 as USS Octopus by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at Quincy, Massachusetts, under a subcontract from the Electric Boat Company...which had taken over the patents of the John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Company of New York in 1904. The submarine was commissioned on 30 June 1908 with Lieutenant C.E. Courtney in command. She was renamed USS C-1 on 17 November 1911.

When commissioned, the lead ship of the C Class had an overall length of 105'4"; had an extreme beam of 13'11"; had a normal displacement of 238 tons on the surface and 275 tons submerged; drew an average of 10' of water when in diving trim on the surface; was manned by 1 officer and 14 enlisted men; was designed to dive to 200'; was armed with two 18-inch torpedo tubes (5 torpedoes were carried); could make 10 1/2 knots on the surface and 9 knots submerged; carried 3,900 gallons of gasoline that fueled a gasoline internal combustion engine that was designed to develop 500 brake horsepower for surface propulsion; and was equipped with 120 Exide battery cells to provide power to a 300 brake horsepower electric motor manufactured by the Electro Dynamic Company of Bayonne, New Jersey, for propulsion when submerged.

Assigned to the Second Submarine Flotilla, USS Octopus operated out of Newport, Rhode Island and New York until 9 October 1908. Tests and experiments with both submarine design and the tactical use of her type continued from Norfolk, Virginia, and Newport, Rhode Island, until she was placed in reserve at Charleston, South Carolina, on 14 February 1910.

Recommissioned on 15 April 1910, the submarine conducted experiments and served as training vessel at Newport until 10 May 1913. Then, USS C-1 was reassigned to the First Submarine Group, Torpedo Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet, and from 29 May to 7 December 1913, operated out of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. She served in Panamanian waters in training, and later, on patrol during World War I, until 4 August 1919, when she was decommissioned at Coco Solo in the Canal Zone.

USS C-1 (SS-9) was sold at Coco Solo on 13 April 1920.