ss15

Tarpon, Octopus, and Bonita were C class subs, Grayling was D class. All were renamed on 17 November 1911 so this photo may have been taken prior to that date. I can't find a "Salem" but I wonder if that's really the Salmon, another D class. Subs were all named for fish at the time so "Salem" seems unlikely. Salmon was commissioned in Sept 1910 so that helps to further date the photo. The photo was probably taken at Newport, Rhode Island, as that's where all these subs operated out of. Source: Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, via wikipedia.

Thanks for the information and your source! The "Salmon" name makes sense given the other sub names. This negative is visually very similar to a negative dated Oct. 28, 1911, showing a naval review in NYC, www.flickr.com/photos/library_of_congress/2163790702/.

The names are painted on the sides of the vessels, but there isn't enough resolution in the scans (or perhaps the original negative) to be able to read them.

perfgeek: Try looking at the higher resolution version (tiff file) available at the persistent URL listed in the description.

Are those towers in the background on ships?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panama_Canal_locks

The boat in the foreground is the USS C-4 (SS-15) (ex- USS Bonita) (note "C 4" on the bow). See: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_C-4_(SS-15)

Richard Norton and TVL1970: Thanks for the additional details. We'll add them to the description next time we update.

:-) 1914, Gatun Locks, 5 submarines, C-class www.navsource.org/archives/08/0801307.jpg

US C-class submarine (s) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_C-class_submarine