ss19

SALEM, GRAYLING, TARPON, OCTOPUS, BONITA, and NEBRASKA (LOC)

from The Library of Congress

• 4 older comments, and then…
• Jim Rees said:

  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.

• The Library of Congress said:

  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/.

• perfgeek said:

  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.

• The Library of Congress said:

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

• fabulous arithmetic said:

  Are those towers in the background on ships?