USS Moccasin in Manila Bay, 1912
Career
Ordered:
Laid down:	8 November 1900
Launched:	20 August 1901
Commissioned:	17 January 1903
Decommissioned:	12 December 1919
Fate:	Used as target
General characteristics
Displacement:	107 tons
Length:	64 ft (20 m)
Beam:	12 ft (4 m)
Draft:	11 ft (3 m)
Speed:	8 knots (15 km/h) surface, 7 knots (13 km/h) submerged
Complement:	7
Armament:	1 torpedo tube

The second USS Moccasin (SS-5) was a Plunger-class submarine that was later renamed A-4.

She was laid down under the direction of Arthur Leopold Busch on 8 November 1900 in Elizabeth, New Jersey at the Crescent Shipyard, launched on 20 August 1901, and commissioned on 17 January 1903 at the Holland yard at New Suffolk, N.Y. with Ensign Frank L. Pinney in command. Assigned to duty at the Naval Torpedo Station at Newport, Moccasin operated locally on principally training and experimental activities until assigned to the Reserve Torpedo Flotilla at Norfolk on 15 June 1904, in which unit she remained inactive for the next half decade. On 20 July 1909, the submarine torpedo boat was loaded on board the collier Caesar, which sailed soon thereafter for the Philippine Islands. Moccasin's sistership, USS Adder was on board as deck cargo as well, lashed to the auxiliary's forward well deck. Arriving at Olongapo on 1 October, Moccasin was launched on 7 October. Recommissioned on 10 February 1910, the submarine torpedo boat was assigned to the First Submarine Division, Asiatic Torpedo Fleet, based in the Manila area.

A new name

Moccasin was renamed A-4 on 17 November 1911. During World War I, like her sisterships, she patrolled the entrance to Manila Bay and convoyed ships moving out of local waters. Later placed in reserve, A-4 was decommissioned at Cavite on 12 December 1919.

References