The Holland VI —

An American Pioneer

(S-21)

U.S.S.T.B. Holland (SS-1) was the Navy’s first commissioned submarine and thus the forerunner of today’s submarine fleet. She was designed in the 1890’s by John P. Holland, an inventor and self-taught engineer who had emigrated from Ireland some 25 years earlier. Built at the Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, N.J., the Holland VI as she was known, was launched on 17 May 1897, and christened ‘Holland’ by Mrs. Lewis Nixon, wife of the shipyard’s owner.

After launching and fitting out at Lewis Nixon’s shipyard, Holland VI was moved to a ship basin at Perth Amboy, N.J. where preliminary static test dives could be made. On 17 March 1898, the Holland, escorted by a tug, proceeded down the Raritan River for her initial submerged run in Raritan Bay. While the trials were generally successful, recurrent problems with her steering control were noted by the Board, which recommended that the Navy not acquire the Holland VI until successful completion of still more trials.

Several underway demonstrations were conducted in March and April of 1900, but the most important of these occurred on 14 March when Admiral George Dewey and his staff, members of both the House and Senate Naval Affairs Committees, and the Assistant Secretary of the Navy sailed down the Potomac in the yacht Josephine to observe the operation of the boat. The trials were conducted flawlessly and deeply impressed the spectators. The Spanish-American War was recent history and it’s recollection caused many of the officials to ponder on what might have been if Spain had possessed such a weapon.

Holland VI was purchased by the U.S. Navy on 11 April 1900 — the date since celebrated as the birthday of the Submarine Force. The purchase contract also called for the construction of an additional submarine of "improved design," and for training a Navy crew. On 24 June the Holland was delivered to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, R.l. by Captain Frank T. Cable, the civilian trial crew skipper, and his crew.

Commander Newton E. Mason, the Torpedo Station Commandant, who was ordered to assemble a Navy crew for the Holland, had plenty of volunteers. To take charge of Holland and the training of her crew he picked Lt. Harry H. Caldwell, recently arrived for temporary duty under instruction in the torpedo and electrical courses. Caldwell was nearing completion of a tour of duty as Secretary to Admiral George Dewey. After several months of purely social duties in Washington, the young lieutenant was delighted to get two months of professional training at an active naval station, and even more happy to take on the challenge of training the Holland’s inaugural crew. Harry CaIdweIl was a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy, Class of 1891. He served at sea in the Atlantic, the Pacific, on the Asiatic Station, and more recently as Navigator of the USS Michigan, on the Great Lakes. When the first Navy crew was assembled, the only member with any experience in the boat was Lt. Caldwell, who had twice been an embarked observer while the Holland conducted it’s demonstration runs in the Potomac River. Captain Cable and his men began training the new crew in July of 1900, building up from school-of-the-boat alongside the dock to evolutions underway on the surface to operations submerged. By the end of August Captain Cable and Lt. Caldwell were agreed that crew training was far enough advanced so that further instruction by the civilian trial crew was no longer needed.

A day at sea was surely a memorable experience for the onetime visitor. From the time he teetered on the narrow gangplank until he was back on shore at the end of the voyage, his senses were assaulted by a variety of unfamiliar stimuli. When the time came to rig for dive he would scramble through the hatch and down the ladder to perch on a stool just aft of the conning officer’s station. Provisions for crew comfort was limited to a stool at each operating station, and a throne-like water closet on the starboard side forward of the hatch. The boat’s interior was clammy for the hull was not insulated, and the stench of gasoline competed with the acrid smell of battery electrolyte. The clatter of the engine discouraged idle conversation. Back on shore the one time visitor has a host of impressions and experiences to sort out and remember. One thought that might cross his mind is that, no matter how much the people who man such craft are paid, it isn’t enough. This thought apparently occurred to one time visitor, President Theodore Roosevelt, who after making such a demonstration cruise on board the U.S.S.T.B. Plunger (SS-2) in August of 1905 near Oyster Bay, Long Island, his summer home. As a consequence the Navy published General Order #9 on 9 November 1905, authorizing payment to each enlisted man embarked in a submarine an additional $1.00 per day for each day the submarine conducted submerged operations not to exceed 15 days in a calendar month.

In her first tests with other Navy units, Holland participated in fleet exercise at Newport in which she acted as a unit of the defensive fleet, pitted against a blockading fleet which included battleships and gunboats.

Holland sortied from Newport harbor on a clear, calm night and headed south on the surface, hunting the blockading ships. Seven miles south of Aquidneck Island she found the battleship Kearsarge, flagship of the blockading fleet. Maneuvering into firing position, Holland simulated a torpedo attack and made the attack signal, but the signal was not acknowledged. Lt. CaIdwell had come too far to accept gracefully being ignored. Closing the range to 150 feet, he hailed the looming battleship, "Hello, Kearsarge! You are blown to atoms! This is the Holland." This exploit received front page coverage in the New York papers, disconcerted battleship proponents and encouraged submarine supporters in and out of the Navy. It was the first recorded submarine night surface attack, a tactic that would be used to great effect against Japanese shipping during World War II.

When fired with enthusiasm generated by Holland’s successful, Potomac River trials in early 1900, Congress bought the submarine in April, it saddled the Navy with more problems than anticipated. The boat had been built with material and equipment wherever it could be found without resort to government specifications. The underwater operating medium brought it’s own specific problems — absence of visibility and the unforgiving pressure of it’s depths which waited patiently to crush any cockleshell that, through mistake or misadventure, exceeded it’s maximum safe operating depth. Hazards also abounded within the boats. A 45 horsepower gasoline engine powered Holland on the surface and was used to charge her batteries. Any flaw in the exhaust system threatened the crew with asphyxiation, while minor fuel leaks could produce explosive concentrations of gasoline vapor. Such casualties were fairly common until diesel oil replaced gasoline about a decade later.

In the summer of 1900 Congress authorized construction and purchase of five "improved" Hollands. These became the Adder class, of which six were built. The lead ship, Adder, was launched in July, 1901, at the Crescent Shipyard in Elizabethport, N.J. With Holland’s mission established as personnel training, it was timely to consider the qualities and qualifications required in submarine crew members. In his 27 September report to the Commandant of the Torpedo Station, Lt. CaIdwell stated "The enlisted men in such a boat must be of the highest intelligence, steady of nerve, quick of resource and implicitly obedient. The Commanding Officer cannot see what his men are doing and must be able to thoroughly rely on them. It seems only fair that these men should receive extra compensation."

Despite vast improvements in submarines, their weapons and machinery, the assessment of the qualities needed in submarine men remains as valid today as it was in 1900. The backbone of a superior submarine force is a superior personnel base. The qualities sought by the first submarine C.O. persist in today’s submariners. By attracting top flight volunteers and training them thoroughly, the U.S. Navy has developed the finest submarine force in the world today.

Lt. Caldwell’s suggestion that submarine sailors should be awarded extra pay is also interesting. Note that it is not predicated on the hazards of submarine service, but rather on proficiency. Caldwell continued to press for adoption of his recommendation and finally on 1 January 1902 submarine pay, $5.00 a month, finally appeared in the U.S. Navy pay scales. While submarines in general, and

Holland in particular, now enjoyed considerable support from more enlightened members of the Navy’s hierarchy, there still existed a cadre of detractors who resented the expenditures of scarce funds for submarine construction, operations and logistics. The Holland was attacked on the basis that she was not capable to make a journey of any significance except at the end of a towline. To spike this canard, the Holland was ordered to proceed, with escort, but under her own power, from Annapolis to the Norfolk Naval Shipyard. The trip had been cold, wet, and tiring, but successful.

Holland’s operational pattern of spending the summer in Newport and the winter in Annapolis continued through 1902. In November of that year Lt. Caldwell was relieved of command by one of his trainees, Lt. Arthur MacArthur, Jr., whose younger brother, Douglas, became a distinguished Army general. Six months later Lt. MacArthur left the Holland to commission a new Adder class submarine, the Grampus, at the Union Iron Works, San Francisco. By the end of 1903 all the Adder class submarines had been commissioned, manned by officers and men who had trained in the USS Holland. With this task completed, much of the pressure on the Holland eased, for the six boats of this class were more than adequate to train their own replacement crew members as well as the crews of future new construction submarines. The Holland lingered in Norfolk as a unit of the ResTorpFlot until she was struck from the list of ships of the U.S. Navy in November 1910. Her final disposition: sold for $100.00 and scrapped in 1930.

If Holland’s fated was ignominious, her niche in sea history remains secure.

Her designer was a brilliant inventor who had a clear appreciation of his craft’s potential. Lt. Caldwell’s place in U.S. Navy history too is assured. Ten years before the advent of naval aviation, he led the U.S. Navy into the third dimension.

The writer of this story, retired Captain Harry H. Caldwell, Jr., is the son of the Holland’s first commanding officer. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 1943 and served in USS Dace during WWII. He later served in several submarine activities, including command of Spike fish, before retiring in June, 1973.

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