USS O-12 (SS-73)
Nautilus in Bergen
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| History | |
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| Name: | USS O-12 |
| Ordered: | 3 March 1916 |
| Builder: | Lake Torpedo Boat Company, Bridgeport, Connecticut |
| Laid down: | 6 March 1916 |
| Launched: | 29 September 1917 |
| Commissioned: | 19 October 1918 |
| Decommissioned: | 17 June 1924 |
| Renamed: | Nautilus, 24 March 1931 |
| Struck: | 29 May 1930 |
| Fate: | Scuttled, 20 November 1931 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | O class submarine |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 175 ft (53 m) |
| Beam: | 16 ft 7 in (5.05 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft 11 in (4.24 m) |
| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: |
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| Test depth: | 200 ft (61 m) |
| Complement: | 2 officers, 27 men |
| Armament: |
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USS O-12 (SS-73) was an O-class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 6 March 1916 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut.
These later O-boats, O-11 through O-16, were designed by Lake Torpedo Boat to different specifications than the earlier Electric Boat designs. They performed poorly as compared to the Electric Boat units, and are sometimes considered a separate class.
O-12 was launched on 29 September 1917, sponsored by Mrs. Homer S. Cummings, and commissioned on 18 October 1918 with Lieutenant Commander J.E. Austin in command.
O-12 spent much of her career as a unit of Submarine Division 1, based at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone. In 1921, she was awarded a Battle Efficiency Pennant and trophy for gunnery (gun and torpedo). She decommissioned on 17 June 1924 after just five and a half years of service, and was placed in reserve at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.
Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 29 July 1930, ex-O-12 transferred to the United States Shipping Board for conversion by the Philadelphia Navy Yard. She was leased at the rate of one dollar per year to Lake and Danenhower, Inc., of Bridgeport, Connecticut, for use on Hubert Wilkins's and Lincoln Ellsworth's Arctic Expedition of geophysical investigation. The lease required that she either be returned to the Navy for disposal, or scuttled in at least 1,200 feet (370 m) of water.
On 24 March 1931, she was re-christened Nautilus. As Prohibition prevented the use of an alcoholic beverage, she was baptised not with the traditional champagne but rather with a bucket of ice cubes. Great French writer Jules Verne's grandson was present at the event, under the French flag, along of course with Sir Hubert's young and glamorous new-wed wife, actress Suzanne Bennett.
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