USS H-2 (SS-29)

USS "H-2" (SS-29) was a "H"-class submarine. She was named "Nautilus", making her the third US ship and first US submarine to bear that popular name derived from a Greek language word meaning "sailor" or "ship." The nautilus is also a tropical mollusk having a many-chambered, spiral shell with a pearly interior. Her keel was laid down by the Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California. She was renamed "H-2" on 17 November 1911, launched on 4 June 1913 sponsored by Mrs. William Ranney Sands, and commissioned on 1 December 1913 with Lieutenant (junior grade) Howard H.J. Benson in command.

Attached to the Pacific Fleet, "H-2" operated along the West Coast, usually in company with "H-1", on various exercises and patrols out of San Pedro, California, until October 1917 when she sailed for the East Coast. Transferred to the Atlantic Fleet as of 9 November 1917, she cruised in the Caribbean Sea for most of that winter, also conducting special submarine detection tests with aircraft and patrol vessels from Key West, Florida. After having new engines installed at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the spring of 1918, she resumed patrols in the Caribbean until the end of the war when she returned to the sub base at New London, Connecticut. From there she operated in Long Island Sound, often with student officers from the submarine school on board.

Heading west again, "H-2" sailed with "H-1" on 6 January 1920, touching at several Caribbean ports before transiting the Panama Canal on 20 February. When "H-1" went aground off Santa Margarita Island on 12 March, "H-2" stood by and sent rescue and search parties for survivors, helping to save all but four of her sister ship's crew. She then continued to San Pedro, California, arriving 20 March.

Drills and exercises with the Pacific Fleet and the Seventh Submarine Division out of San Pedro, California, were interrupted by an extensive Mare Island Naval Shipyard overhaul in the winter of 1921, after which "H-2" returned to the same schedule. In company with SubDiv 7, she sailed from San Pedro, California, on 25 July 1922, reaching Hampton Roads on 14 September via Acapulco, Corinto, and Coco Solo. "H-2" decommissioned there on 23 October 1922. Her name was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 18 December 1930. She was sold for scrapping in September 1931.

See Ships named Nautilus for other ships of the same name.

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