 {|    |} the plunger class was an early class of united states navy submarines, used primarily as training vessels for the newly formed "silent service" to familiarize navy personnel with the performance and operations of such craft. they were known as the "a-class" after being renamed to a-type designations (a-1 through a-7) on 17 november 1911. all except plunger ended up being stationed in the philippines, an american possession, prior to the outbreak of world war i. they were shipped there on colliers (coal-carrying ships). in some instances, this class of submarines is referred to as the adder-class submarine, as uss adder was the first boat of the class to be completed.gardiner, p. 127 == history == the plunger-class submarines were built at the beginning of the twentieth century largely as experimental vessels. this class of submarines was built at two different locations on both coasts of the united states. the five east coast boats were based at new suffolk, new york along with  until 1905, allowing new suffolk to claim itself as the first submarine base in the united states.cutchoguenewsuffolk.org history - retrieved 2007-11-04 they were given alphanumeric hull classification symbols (ss-2, ss-3, etc.) on 17 july 1920, after all but g
Plunger-class_submarines Submarine_classes World_War_I_submarines_of_the_United_States