USS G - 1 ( SS - 19½ ) USS " G - 1 " ( SS - 19½ ) was the lead ship of her class of submarine of the United States Navy . While the four G - boats were nominally all of a class , they differed enough in significant details that they are sometimes considered to be four unique boats , each in a class by herself . Construction history . " G - 1 " was named " Seal " when her keel was laid down on 2 February 1909 by the Newport News Shipbuilding Company in Newport News , Virginia , under a subcontract from the Lake Torpedo Boat Company , making her the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the seal , a sea mammal valued for its skin and oil . She was launched on 9 February 1911 , sponsored by Miss Margaret V . Lake , daughter of Simon Lake , the submarine pioneer . She was renamed " G - 1 " on 17 November 1911 , and commissioned in the New York Navy Yard on 28 October 1909 with Lieutenant Kenneth Whiting in command . " Seal " was the first contract the Lake Torpedo Boat Company secured from the United States Government , but the contract ' s requirements were among the most severe ever required of a shipbuilder . The Company did not receive any payment on account during her construction and her required performances had never been approached by any other submarine in the world . " G - 1 " met and exceeded those requirements and introduced several innovations . In addition to a pair of fixed torpedo tube s in the bow that required the vessel herself to be trained , " G - 1 " carried four torpedo tubes in a mount on her deck that could be trained in the same manner as a deck gun on a surface vessel while the boat was submerged , thus allowing a " broadside " shot of one or more torpedoes . Service history . After fitting out in New York City , " G - 1 " proceeded to the Naval Torpedo Station , Rhode Island , arriving there on 30 January 1913 . Attached to the Atlantic Submarine Flotilla , " G - 1 " spent the next year and a half conducting dive training and torpedo firing exercises in Long Island Sound and Narragansett Bay . In preparation for her final acceptance trials in October 1913 , the boat made a record dive of in Long Island Sound . Financial considerations led to " G - 1 " being put in reserve at New York City on 15 June 1914 . " G - 1 " was placed in full commission at New York City on 6 February 1915 with Lieutenant , junior grade Joseph M . Deem in command . In company with sister ship , tender and tug , " G - 1 " sailed south on 25 March into Chesapeake Bay and down the seaboard for Norfolk , Virginia . Arriving there two days later , she conducted maneuvers in Hampton Roads as part of the Third Division , Submarine Flotilla , Atlantic Fleet . On 2 April , while off Old Point Comfort , " G - 1 " grazed steam ship " Ocean View " , wrecking the submersible ' s wooden false bow . After a short period at Norfolk for repairs , the division cruised south to Charleston , South Carolina , mooring there on 17 April . Heavy seas encountered during this coastwise passage caused the two " G " - class submarines to roll heavily , spring oil leaks , and pop engine rivets . Following a three - week yard period in Charleston , the two boats — accompanied by " Fulton " and gunboat — proceeded back to New York City on 6 May , arriving there three days later . Upon arrival , retired Rear Admiral Yates Stirling , Jr . , senior aide on the staff of Commander , Submarine Flotilla , Atlantic Fleet , inspected the boat and concluded the " G " - boats were crude and inefficient in comparison to current designs . Deeming their military value negligible , he urged that a field of scientific or experimental use be found for them . Training ship . " G - 1 " departed New York on 23 May and proceeded to Newport , Rhode Island , where she became a school ship on the torpedo range . She also carried out harbor defense and patrol battle problems in Narragansett Bay . Aside from minor repairs at New York in June , this duty continued until 3 October , when she set course — along with tender — for a training cruise to Chesapeake Bay . After making a few days of practice attack runs against the monitor off Fisherman ' s Island , the boat returned to Newport on 12 October for inspection and crew changes ; a week later , she shifted to Naval Submarine Base New London , the new submarine base at New London , Connecticut . On 4 December , while the crew of " G - 1 " was charging batteries , a circulating pump broke down and severely overheated the port engine . That mishap — combined with a steering gear overhaul at New York — kept ship ' s force busy in the yard for the next thirteen months . While there , " G - 1 " was assigned ( SS - 19½ ) as her official hull number on 12 June 1916 . Finally , after a few days of familiarization training , the crew sailed the boat to New London on 23 January 1917 . Once there , " G - 1 " began her new career as an experimental and instructional submersible . She acted as a schoolship for the newly established Submarine Base and Submarine School at New London , training officers and men of the newly expanded submarine force . Concurrently , given the entry of the United States into World War I , " G - 1 " tested submarine net s and detector devices for the Experiment Board . She served in a similar capacity at Nahant , Massachusetts , and Provincetown , Massachusetts , assisting the destroyer and steam yacht in the development and use of sound detection devices and experiments with the " K tube , " a communications device . With German U - boat s reported off the coast in June 1918 , the submarine spent two four - day periscope and listening patrols off Nantucket , Massachusetts , as a defense screen for shipping . Following the end of the war , " G - 1 " conducted daily operations with enlisted students in connection with the Listener and Hydrophone School at New London . In August 1919 , after a failed inspection by the Board of Inspection and Survey , the boat was laid up at New London in preparation for disposal . Towed to the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 30 January 1920 she was stripped of useful material and decommissioned on 6 March . She was designated as a target for depth charge experiments under the cognizance of the Bureau of Ordnance on 9 June . In 1920 , " G - 1 " was redesignated SS - 20 even though that hull classification symbol and number had already been given to ( ex - " Carp " ) . " F - 1 " had sunk in a collision with " F - 3 " in 1917 , so there was no overlap in time of service . Target ship . Towed back to Narragansett Bay by in May 1921 , the minesweeper made eight experimental depth charge attacks on ex - " G - 1 " while the boat lay off Taylor ' s Point on 21 June . Damaged and flooded by those explosions , the battered submarine settled to the bottom in of water . Several attempts to raise her failed and the wreck was officially abandoned . " G - 1 " was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 August 1921 .