USS G-4 (SS-26)
USS G-4 during her fitting out at the William Cramp & Sons shipyard, 1912
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS G-4 |
| Builder: | William Cramp and Sons, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |
| Laid down: | 9 July 1910, as USS Thrasher |
| Launched: | 15 August 1912 |
| Commissioned: | 22 January 1914 |
| Decommissioned: | 5 September 1919 |
| Renamed: | USS G-4, 17 November 1911 |
| Struck: | 13 August 1921 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrap, 15 April 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | G-class submarine |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 157 ft 6 in (48.01 m) |
| Beam: | 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m) |
| Draft: | 10 ft 11 in (3.33 m) |
| Propulsion: | Gasoline-Electric |
| Speed: |
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| Complement: | 24 officers and men |
| Armament: | 4 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes |
USS G-4 (SS-26) was a G-class 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.
G-4 was named Thrasher when her keel was laid down on 9 July 1910 by William Cramp and Sons in Philadelphia, making her the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the thrasher, a thrushlike bird known as a singer and mimic. She was renamed G-4 on 17 November 1911, launched on 15 August 1912 sponsored by Ms. Grace Anna Taussig, and commissioned in the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 22 January 1914, Lieutenant Ernest D. McWhorter in command.
After fitting out, G-4 proceeded to the New York Navy Yard on 25 April for service with Division Three, Submarine Flotilla, Atlantic Fleet. Based on plans purchased from Italian designer Cesare Laurenti, G-4 was an even keel boat, meaning the round pressure hull was flat on the bottom. When surrounded by a streamlined outer hull, the boat was theoretically more stable than the earlier Holland-type boats. The different equipment and operating procedures meant G-4 spent the next five months conducting trial runs and diving tests, many of which failed owing to engine machinery breakdown. Still, almost all of her preliminary trials were completed by the end of August, and the boat was conditionally accepted by the Navy on 21 September.
At the end of October, the boat shifted to New London, Connecticut, and from there she sailed on to Newport, Rhode Island in mid-November. Moving back to New York on 22 November, G-4 received post-shakedown repairs to her engines, which suffered from sea water damage owing to leaky exhaust lines and salt contamination of the oil system. After failing several engine trials that winter, the boat proceeded south to her builder's yard in Philadelphia on 9 March 1915. Following two months of repairs, G-4 departed Philadelphia on 12 May and sailed to New York for a Naval Review before President of the United States Woodrow Wilson. G-4 then conducted maneuvers with the submarine flotilla off Newport in late May and again in October, in addition to local training operations out of New York and the submarine base in New London.
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