USS Porpoise ( SS - 7 ) The third USS " Porpoise " ( SS - 7 ) was an early in the service of the United States Navy , later renamed as A - 6 . She was laid down on 13 December 1900 in Elizabeth , New Jersey at the Crescent Shipyard under the direction of shipyard superintendent , Arthur Leopold Busch . This craft was launched on 23 September 1901 , and commissioned at the Holland Torpedo Boatyard at New Suffolk , New York on 19 September 1903 , with Lieutenant Charles P . Nelson in command . Early service . Assigned initially to the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport for experimental torpedo firing work , " Porpoise " entered the New York Navy Yard in September 1904 for repairs and alterations , remaining there until February 1906 . Assigned then to the First Torpedo Flotilla on 7 March 1907 , she operated at Annapolis , Maryland — temporarily assigned to the United States Naval Academy for instruction of future naval officers — until June . Taken subsequently to the New York Navy Yard , she was decommissioned on 21 April 1908 . Partially disassembled , she was then loaded onto the after well deck of the collier for a voyage to the Philippines as deck cargo along with her sister ship via the Suez Canal . Arriving at the Naval Station at Cavite , " Porpoise " was launched on 8 July 1908 , and recommissioned on 20 November . Due to the small size of " Plunger " - class boats , officers and men lived on board the gunboat . Whiting ' s experiment . In April 1909 , Ensign Kenneth Whiting , a future naval aviation pioneer , became the commanding officer of " Porpoise " . On 15 April , Whiting and his crew of six took the submarine out for what was to be a routine run . " Porpoise " got underway , cleared the dock and moved out into Manila Bay . She dove soon thereafter , and leveled off at a depth of . Only then did Whiting reveal the purpose of the dive . Convinced that a man could escape from a submarine through the torpedo tube , Whiting determined that he was going to try and test his theory with himself as a guinea pig . Squeezing into the diameter tube , he clung to the crossbar which stiffened the outer torpedo tube door , as the crew closed the inner door . When the outer door was opened and water rushed in , Whiting hung onto the crossbar that drew his elbows out of the tube ' s mouth , and then muscled his way out using his hands and arms , the entire evolution consuming 77 seconds . He then swam to the surface , " Porpoise " surfacing soon thereafter . Reluctant to speak about the incident in public , he nevertheless informed his flotilla commander , Lt . Guy W . S . Castle , who submitted a report on how the feat had been accomplished . In " Porpoise ' s " log that day , Whiting had simply commented : " Whiting went through the torpedo tube , boat lying in ( the ) water in ( a ) normal condition , as an experiment . . . " Asiatic fleet and later service . Subsequently becoming a unit of the First Submarine Division , Asiatic Torpedo Fleet , on 9 December 1909 , " Porpoise " continued her routine of local operations out of Cavite for the next decade . Renamed A - 6 on 17 November 1911 , she patrolled the entrance to Manila Bay and convoyed vessels out of port during World War I , under the command of Lt . A . H . Bailey . Placed in ordinary on 1 December 1918 , she spent a little over a year in that status , until decommissioned on 12 December 1919 and turned over to the Commandant of the Naval Station at Cavite for disposal . Given the alphanumeric hull number SS - 7 on 17 July 1920 , " A - 6 " was authorized for use as a target in July 1921 and as of 16 January 1922 was struck from the Naval Vessel Register .