USS D-2

The D-class submarines were enlarged versions of the preceding C class, the first American submarines armed with four torpedo tubes. They had a length of overall, a beam of and a mean draft of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The D-class boats had a crew of 1 officer and 14 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of . For surface running, they were powered by two gasoline engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the boats had a range of at and at submerged. The boats were armed with four 18-inch (450 mm) torpedo tubes in the bow. They did not carry reloads for them. ==Construction==

Graylings keel was laid down by Fore River Shipbuilding Company, in Quincy, Massachusetts, under a subcontract from Electric Boat Company, of Groton, Connecticut. Grayling was launched on 16 June 1909, sponsored by Miss Catherine H. Bowles, daughter of Francis T. Bowles, President, and former US Navy Rear Admiral, of the Fore River Shipbuilding Company. She was commissioned on 23 November 1909. ==Service history==

Grayling joined the Atlantic Torpedo Fleet as Flagboat for Submarine Division 3 (SubDiv 3). Along the United States East Coast, Grayling joined in diving, torpedo, and experimental exercises. She was renamed D-2 on 17 November 1911. She participated in the Presidential Review of the Fleet in the North River at New York City from 5 to 18 May 1915. While patrolling outside Naval Station Newport, Rhode Island, just east of Point Judith, shortly before 14:00 on 7 October 1916, D-2 discovered the Imperial German Navy submarine under the command of Hans Rose, heading towards Newport, Rhode Island, as part of her hitherto unprecedented two-way traversal of the Atlantic Ocean without refueling or resupply. The United States was still neutral in World War I, but there was an initial flurry of activity when U-53 suddenly steamed away to port believing the submerged D-2 to be a British submarine, but when D-2 surfaced so that a crewman could run aft to raise the United States flag, U-53 slowed. Lieutenant G. C. Fulker, commanding officer of D-2, brought his submarine up close to U-53 on a parallel course to escort U-53 while in sight of land. As the submarines reached the Brenton Reef Lightship, Rose requested permission from D-2 to enter port at Newport. Fulker granted it, and Rose called back by megaphone, "I salute our American comrades and follow in your wake." After the United States entered World War I, on the side of the Allies, on 6 April 1917, D-2 served in training and experimental work at New London, Connecticut. On 31 July 1917, or 1 August 1917, she sank the schooner Charlotte W. Miller in a collision near Bartletts Reef, near New London; Charlotte W. Miller later was raised but declared a total loss. On 14 September 1917, D-2 sank at pierside with all hands aboard. Her entire crew was rescued and she was refloated, repaired, and returned to service. ==Fate==

D-2 was placed in commission, in reserve, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 9 September 1919, and placed in ordinary, on 15 July 1921. She was decommissioned, on 18 January 1922, and sold as a hulk, on 25 September 1922. ==References==