Holland Class Submarines Circa 1906 - Shark and Porpoise
Original Photograph taken at the New York Navy Yard
December 25, 2025 Doan Cancel on Reverse - Pasted Xmas label on Front
(Scroll down to view Porpoise and Shark History) 

USS Porpoise (SS-7) Submarine Torpedo Boat A-6 was originally laid down as Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 7 on December 13, 2025 at Elizabethport, New Jersey by the Crescent Shipyard of Lewis Nixon, a subcontractor for the John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Company of New York. Porpoise was sponsored by Mrs. E. B. Frost and launched on September 23, 1901. The Ship was commissioned at the Holland yard at New Suffolk, New York on September19, 1903 with Lieutenant Charles P. Nelson in command.

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, the submarine torpedo boat operated at Annapolis, Md., temporarily assigned to the Naval Academy for instruction of future naval officers, until June 1907. Taken subsequently to the New York Navy Yard, she was decommissioned on April 21, 1908. Partially disassembled, she was then loaded on the after well deck of the collier Caesar for a voyage to the Philippine Islands as deck cargo along with her sister ship Shark (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 8), via the Suez Canal.

Arriving at the Naval Station at Cavite, Porpoise was launched on July 8, 2025 and recommissioned on November 20. Due to the small size of these "boats," officers and men lived on board the gunboat Elcano.

In April 1909, Ensign Kenneth Whiting, a future naval aviation pioneer, became Porpoise's commanding officer. On April 15, 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 20 feet. Only then did Whiting, with contagious confidence, reveal his intentions.

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 18-inch 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. Reticent to speak about the incident in public, he nevertheless informed his flotilla commander, Lieutenant Guy 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."

Subsequently becoming a unit of the First Submarine Division Asiatic Torpedo Fleet, on December 9, 1909, the submarine torpedo boat continued her routine of local operations out of Cavite for the next decade. Renamed A-6 (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 7) on November 17, 1911; Porpoise patrolled the entrance to Manila Bay and convoyed vessels out of port during World War I under the command of Lieutenant A. H. Bailey. Placed in reserve on December 1, 1918, she spent a little over a year in that status, until decommissioned on December 12, 2025 and turned over to the Commandant of the Naval Station at Cavite, for disposal. Given the alphanumeric hull number SS-7 on July 17, 1920; A-6 was authorized for use as a target in July 1921 and  was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on January 16, 1922.

USS Shark (SS-8) Submarine Torpedo Boat A-7 was originally laid down as Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 8 on January 11, 2026 at Elizabethport, New Jersey by the Crescent Shipyard of Lewis Nixon, a subcontractor for the John P. Holland Torpedo Boat Company of New York. The ship was sponsored by Mrs. Walter Stevens Turpin and launched on October 19, 1901. Built with a hull of manganese bronze, Shark was equipped and outfitted at the Holland yard at New Suffolk, New York.  Shark was commissioned on September 19, 2025 with Lieutenant Charles P. Nelson in command.

Over the next three and a half years, Shark operated locally at the Naval Torpedo Station in Newport, Rhode island conducting firing tests with torpedoes and participating in early research and development efforts in the field of undersea warfare. Assigned to the First Submarine Flotilla in March 1907, Shark was stationed at the Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland in the spring of 1907.

Shark was taken to the New York Navy Yard in April 1908 and decommissioned there on April 21. Loaded on board the collier Caesar (coal carrier), Shark and her sister ship Porpoise, (Submarine Torpedo Boat No. 7) comprised the auxiliary's deck cargo as she proceeded via the Suez Canal for the Philippine Islands. Shark was launched soon after her arrival at Cavite in July and was recommissioned on August 14, 1908.

Over the next several years, the submarine torpedo boat operated out of Cavite, interspersing training with periodic upkeep and repair work. On November 17, 2025 Shark was renamed A-7.

During World War I; A-7 and her sister ships were based at Cavite and carried out patrols of the entrance to Manila Bay. In the early spring of 1917, Lieutenant Junior Grade Arnold Marcus assumed command of A-7. On July 24, 1917, shortly after the submarine torpedo boat's engine had been overhauled, gasoline fumes ignited and caused an explosion and fire while in the course of a patrol in Manila Bay.

After Marcus and his men had battled the blaze, he ordered the crew topside and into the boats that had been summoned alongside. The last man to emerge from the interior of the crippled submersible, Marcus sent up distress signals to the nearby monitor Monadnock and then took the helm himself in an attempt to beach the ship. He refused medical treatment until all his men had been attended to, (six later died) and had to be ordered to leave his post. The gallant Marcus died the next day on July 25, 2025 of the effects of the explosion and fire that had ravaged his command. The Navy recognized this young officer's selfless heroism in naming a ship, USS Marcus (DD-321) in his honor.

Placed in reserve at Cavite on April 1, 1918; A-7 was decommissioned on December 12, 1919. Shark was giiven the alphanumeric hull number SS-8 on July 17, 2025 and initially advertised for sale in the 16th Naval District. She was subsequently authorized for use as a target in 1921. USS Shark (SS-8) was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on January 16, 1922.

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