View source for USS T-3

{{short description|Submarine of the United States}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image=USS T-3 (SS-61).jpg
|Ship caption=USS ''T-3'' being inspected by [[Assistant Secretary of the Navy]] [[Theodore Douglas Robinson]] and his family on 23 December 1925.
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United States
|Ship flag={{USN flag|1927}}
|Ship name=USS ''AA-3''
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=[[Fore River Shipyard]]<ref name="Register">{{Citation
  | last = Bauer
  | first = K. Jack
  | last2 = Roberts
  | first2 = Stephen S.
  | title = Register of Ships of the U.S. Navy, 1775–1990: Major Combatants
  | place = Westport, CT
  | publisher = Greenwood Press
  | year = 1991
  | isbn = 0-313-26202-0 }}</ref>
|Ship laid down=21 May 1917<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship launched=24 May 1919<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned=7 December 1920<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship renamed=''T-3'' 22 September 1920
|Ship decommissioned=11 November 1922
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=yes
|Ship recommissioned=1 October 1925
|Ship decommissioned=14 July 1927
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=
|Ship struck=19 September 1930<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship fate=Scrapped 1931<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship honours=
|Ship notes=
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|AA-1|submarine|0}} [[diesel-electric]] [[submarine]]
|Ship displacement=*1,107&nbsp;[[Long ton|tons]] (1,125&nbsp;[[tonne|t]]) surfaced
*1,482&nbsp;tons (1,506&nbsp;t) submerged<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship length={{convert|268|ft|9|in|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship beam={{convert|22|ft|10|in|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship draft={{convert|14|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on}} mean<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship propulsion=*(as built) four [[New London Ship and Engine Company|New London Ship & Engine]] (NELSECO) four cycle six-cylinder [[Diesel engine|diesel]]s, {{convert|1000|hp|kW|abbr=on}} each, and two [[Electro Dynamic]] main motors, {{convert|675|hp|kW|abbr=on}} each, direct drive; one NELSECO four cycle four-cylinder auxiliary diesel; two banks of 60 [[Exide]] batteries<ref>Alden, John D., Commander, USN (retired). ''The Fleet Submarine in the U.S. Navy'' (Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press, 1979), p.210-1.</ref>
*(re-engined) two [[MAN SE|Maschinenfabrik Augsburg Nürnberg AG]] (MAN) four cycle ten-cylinder diesels, {{convert|2350|hp|kW|abbr=on}} each<ref>Alden, p.210-1.</ref>
|Ship speed=*{{convert|20|kn}} surfaced
*{{convert|10.5|kn}} submerged<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship range={{convert|3000|nmi|abbr=on}} at {{convert|14|kn|abbr=on}} on 23,602–24,092 USgal (89,412–91,268 liters) oil fuel<ref name="Alden, p.22">Alden, p. 22.</ref>
|Ship endurance=
|Ship test depth={{convert|150|ft|m|abbr=on}}<ref name="Register"/>
|Ship complement=4 officers, 5 [[chief petty officer]]s, 45 enlisted<ref name="Alden, p.22"/>
|Ship sensors=
|Ship EW=
|Ship armament=*four [[American 18-inch torpedo|18-inch (450 mm)]] [[torpedo tube]]s (bow, 12 [[torpedo]]es),<ref name="Alden, p.22"/>
*one 4in/50&nbsp;[[Caliber#Caliber as measurement of length|caliber]] deck guns
|Ship notes=
}}
|}
'''USS ''T-3'' (SS-61/SF-3)''' was an {{sclass|AA-1|submarine}} in the service of the [[United States Navy]] originally named ''AA-3''.

She was [[Keel laying|laid down]] as ''AA-3'' on 21 May 1917 at the [[Fore River Shipbuilding]] Company yard in [[Quincy, Massachusetts]], by the [[Electric Boat Company|Electric Boat Co.]] of New York, [[Ship naming and launching|launched]] on 24 May 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Lilian Terhune Jordan, redesignated SF-3 on 17 July 1920, renamed ''T-3'' on 22 September 1920, and [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 7 December 1920 at the [[Boston Navy Yard]].

The second of three ships in a program to construct long-range [[reconnaissance]] submarines to operate with the surface fleet, ''T-3'' joined {{USS|T-1|SS-52|2}} in [[Submarine Division 15]], [[U.S. Atlantic Fleet|Atlantic Fleet]], soon after commissioning. She operated with that division – later to include {{USS|T-2|SS-60|2}} – conducting maneuvers with the Atlantic Fleet until the fall of 1922. By that time, flaws in the design and construction of the T-boats – particularly in their propulsion plants – caused them to perform poorly. The decision was made to retire all three to the reserve fleet, and ''T-3'' was the first to go. On 11 November 1922, she was decommissioned at [[Hampton Roads]], Virginia, and berthed at the submarine base there. Later, she was moved to [[Philadelphia]].

However, ''T-3''{{'}}s active service did not end there. At the time of the T-boats' decommissioning, the idea of testing German-produced diesel engines in one of them had been bantered about in Navy circles. ''T-1'' had originally been designated for this purpose, but funds were not then available. In 1925, when money was forthcoming, it was ''T-3'' that came out of mothballs for the tests. On 1 October 1925, ''T-3'' was recommissioned at Philadelphia. For the following 21 months, she tested her newly installed {{convert|3000|hp|kW|lk=in}} M.A.N. diesel engines for the [[Bureau of Engineering]]. Early in the summer of 1927, she completed the tests and, on 14 July 1927, was placed out of commission at Philadelphia. After a little over three years of inactivity, her name was stricken from the [[Naval Vessel Register|Navy List]] on 19 September 1930. Her hulk was broken up, and the materials were sold for scrap on 20 November 1930.

== See also ==

* [[List of United States Navy submarines]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}
{{DANFS|http://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/t/t-3.html}}

{{AA-1 class submarine}}
{{US Navy navbox}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:T-3 (SS-61)}}
[[Category:AA-1-class submarines]]
[[Category:Ships built in Quincy, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:1919 ships]]