USS Grampus (SS-4)

USS "Grampus" (SS-4), a "Plunger"-class submarine torpedo boat later named "A-3", was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for two members of the dolphin family (Delphinidae): "Grampus griseus", also known as Risso's dolphin, and "Orcinus orca", also known as the killer whale.

Her keel was laid down on 10 December 1900 at San Francisco, California, by Union Iron Works, a subcontractor for the Holland Torpedo Boat Company of New York City. She was launched on 31 July 1902 sponsored by Mrs. Marley F. Hay, wife of the Superintendent of Construction at Union Iron Works, and commissioned at the Mare Island Navy Yard on 28 May 1903 with Lieutenant Arthur MacArthur III, the older brother of future General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, in command.

Over the next three and a half years, "Grampus" operated out of the San Francisco, California, area, principally in training and experimental work. On 18 April 1906, men from her crew participated in relief efforts which followed the devastating San Francisco earthquake of 1906. Decommissioned at Mare Island on 28 November 1906, "Grampus" remained inactive until recommissioned on 13 June 1908. Subsequently assigned to the First Submarine Division, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, in January 1910, and to the Pacific Fleet in March 1911, the submarine torpedo boat operated locally off the California coast until assigned to the Pacific Reserve Fleet on 28 June 1912. Toward the end of this period of active service, on 17 November 1911, "Grampus" was renamed "A-3".

"A-3" remained inactive, at the Puget Sound Navy Yard, into 1915. On 16 February 1915, she was hoisted on board the collier "Hector", which sailed soon thereafter for the Philippine Islands with "A-3" and her sister ship, "A-5" (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 6, ex-"Pike"), as deck cargo. "Hector" arrived at Olongapo on 26 March 1915, and launched "A-3" on 10 April.

Commissioned at Olongapo a week later, on 17 April, "A-3" was assigned to the First Submarine Division, Torpedo Flotilla, Asiatic Fleet, and remained in active service with that unit until decommissioned at Cavite on 25 July 1921. During World War I, "A-3" patrolled the waters off the entrance to Manila Bay. On 17 July, 1920, "A-3" was given the hull classification symbol SS-4.

Dismantled and used as a target by ships of the Asiatic Fleet, "A-3" was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 16 January 1922.

References

*DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/danfs/g7/grampus-iii.htm