Career
Ordered:
Laid down:
Launched:	6 January 1912
Commissioned:	5 August 1912
Decommissioned:	15 March 1922
Fate:	sold
Stricken:
General Characteristics
Displacement:	330 tons
Length:	142 feet 7 inches
Beam:	15 feet 5 inches
Draft:	12 feet 2 inches
Speed:	14 knots
Complement:	22 officers and men
Armament:	four 18-inch torpedo tubes

USS F-3 (SS-22), was a F-class submarine . She was named Pickerel when her keel was laid down by the Moran Brothers Company of Seattle, Washington, making her the first ship of the United States Navy to be named for the pickerel, a type of pike. She was renamed F-3 on 17 November 1911, launched on 6 January 1912 sponsored by Mrs. M. F. Backus, and commissioned 5 August 1912 with Ensign K. Heron in command.

F-3 completed her trials in the Puget Sound area before reporting for duty at San Francisco, California, on 15 October 1912, when she joined the First Submarine Group, Pacific Torpedo Flotilla. The Flotilla operated along the coast of California, conducting constant exercises and experiments to develop the techniques of submarine warfare, and from August 1914 to November 1915, carried out similar operations in the Hawaiian Islands. F-3 was placed in ordinary at Mare Island 15 March 1916, returning to full commission 13 June 1917.

After training her new crew, F-3 was assigned to the Coast Torpedo Force, Pacific Fleet, based at San Pedro, California. She engaged in daily operations, surfaced and submerged, training students of the submarine school. During maneuvers 17 December 1917, she and F-1 collided, the latter sinking almost immediately. F-3, along with other submarines with whom she was operating, rescued all but 19 of the crew of F-1. F-3 suffered a cracked bow cap and after repairs at Mare Island was assigned operations in cooperation with a civilian motion picture company in experiments with underwater photography. From 1919 through 1921, F-3 served at San Pedro, California, as training ship, and on 15 March 1922 she was decommissioned. She was sold 17 August 1922.

References