USS F-1

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|Ship image=File:USS F-1 1912.jpg

|Ship caption=F-1 in a West Coast harbor

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{{Infobox ship career

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|Ship country=United States

|Ship flag={{USN flag|1917}}

|Ship name=USS F-1

|Ship namesake=

|Ship ordered=

|Ship builder=*Bethlehem Shipbuilding Corporation

|Ship laid down=23 August 1909, as USS Carp

|Ship launched=6 September 1911

|Ship sponsor=Ms. J. Tynan

|Ship acquired=

|Ship commissioned=19 June 1902

|Ship decommissioned=

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|Ship struck=

|Ship renamed=USS F-1, 17 November 1911

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|Ship honors=

|Ship fate=Sunk by collision, 17 December 1917

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{{Infobox ship characteristics

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|Ship class=F-class submarine

|Ship displacement={{convert|330|LT|t|abbr=on}}

|Ship length={{convert|142|ft|7|in|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship beam={{convert|15|ft|5|in|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship draft={{convert|12|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}}

|Ship propulsion=

|Ship speed={{convert|14|kn|mph km/h|lk=in|abbr=on}}

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|Ship complement=22 officers and enlisted

|Ship armament=4 × 18 inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes

|Ship notes=

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USS F-1 (SS-20) was an F-class submarine. She was named Carp when her keel was laid down by Union Iron Works of San Francisco, California, making her the first ship of the United States Navy named for the carp. She was launched on 6 September 1911 sponsored by Ms. J. Tynan, renamed F-1 on 17 November 1911, and commissioned on 19 June 1912.

Service history

Assigned to the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla, F-1 operated in the San Francisco, California area on trials and tests through 11 January 1913, when she joined the flotilla for training at sea between San Diego, California and San Pedro Submarine Base, San Pedro, California, then in San Diego Harbor.

File:USS F-1 Grounded 1912.JPG

In late 1912, the boat — which then held the world's deep diving record, descending to {{convert|283|ft|m|abbr=on}} — slipped her mooring at Port Watsonville in Monterey Bay, California, and grounded on a nearby beach. While most of the crew of 17 safely evacuated, two men died in the incident.{{cite news |title=Submarine Wrecked in Surf |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=9N0DAAAAMBAJ|publisher= Popular Mechanics Magazine|date= January 1913|access-date=6 February 2009 }}

From 21 July 1914 to 14 November 1915, the flotilla was based at Honolulu, Hawaii's Naval Submarine Base Pearl Harbor for development operations in the Hawaiian Islands.

F-1 was in ordinary from 15 March 1916 to 13 June 1917. When she returned to full commission, she served with the Patrol Force, Pacific, making surface and submerged runs to continue her part in the development of submarine tactics. Her base during this time was San Pedro, California. On 17 December 1917, while maneuvering in exercises off Point Loma, San Diego, California, F-1 and {{USS|F-3|SS-22|2}} collided, the former sinking in ten seconds, her port side torn forward of the engine room.{{cite book|last=Linder|first=Bruce|title=San Diego's Navy|location=Annapolis, Maryland|publisher=Naval Institute Press|year=2001|page=63|isbn=1-55750-531-4}} Nineteen of her men were lost; the remaining three were rescued by the submarines with which she was operating.

The F-1 sank to the seafloor over 1300 ft (400 m) below, where it was rediscovered in 2025 by researchers from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution lying "remarkably intact" on its starboard side.{{Cite news |last=Metcalfe |first=Tom |date=2025-05-23 |title=American submarine, lost for over a century, discovered 'remarkably intact' off the coast of San Diego |url=https://www.livescience.com/archaeology/american-submarine-lost-for-over-a-century-discovered-remarkably-intact-off-the-coast-of-san-diego |access-date= |work=Live Science |language=en}}

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| image1 = US Navy F-Class Plans-1 1910.jpg

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| image2 = US Navy F-Class Plans-2 1910.jpg

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| footer = Plans for the F-class submarines of the US Navy

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