Two months later on 7 March, she came off keel blocks and moored in Berth H. On 2 January 1932, Nautilus steamed to the Mare Island Navy Yard, and subsequently entered Dry Dock No. Accompanying SubDiv 12, Nautilus conducted local exercises on 1 and 13 October, but the boat remained largely inactive during most of November and December. Back in San Diego as of 1 September, she remained in port for the rest of the month. Following exercises off Coronado, Nautilus proceeded to San Francisco (19-31 August). The boat steamed to the vicinity of Pyramid Cove, San Clemente Island, Calif., from 20-24 July, and then in August she went to Coronado, Calif., from 10-11 August. On 1 July 1931, Nautilus was re-designated SS-168. The boat did not get underway again until 1 July, when she steamed out of San Francisco with Argonaut (SM-1) and the rest of SubDiv 12 and made her way to San Diego, arriving there on the 3rd.ĭuring the next three months, Nautilus remained based at San Diego but made several excursions into local waters with her fellow submarines to conduct exercises. Two days later on the 20th, she anchored in berth 14 at San Francisco. Ready for sea again on 18 June, Nautilus, got underway as part of Submarine Division (SubDiv) 12, to conduct exercises. Following a ten-day voyage, the boat entered San Diego Harbor on 14 May and then shortly after anchoring began a month-long refit. On, Nautilus weighed anchor from Coco Solo and then, after transiting the Panama Canal, shaped a course for San Diego. The boat arrived at her destination on the 29th and then spent several days engaged in local exercises. She stood out from Annapolis on the 24th and shaped a course for Coco Solo, C.Z. Nautilus lay moored at the Washington Navy Yard for a couple of days and then shifted to Annapolis, Md., where she remained for the better part of a week. In the course of those tests, she dove to the previously unmatched depth of 56 fathoms.Īt the conclusion of her submergence tests, on 7 April 1931, Nautilus steamed to the New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, N.Y., where she arrived on the 9th and then only a few days later, on the 11th, got underway for Washington D.C., where she arrived on the 13th. During her time in the area, she travelled to New London, Conn., and demonstrated her exceptional diving capabilities, conducting a special submergence test off the Isles of Shoals, a group of small islands and tidal ledges approximately six miles off the coastal borders of the U.S. The boat arrived at Portsmouth Navy Yard on 1 April and moored starboard side to the Flat Iron Pier. With her trials completed in late March 1931, Nautilus got underway on the 23rd and began transiting the Panama Canal en route to Portsmouth, N.H. In the month that followed, she conducted exercises between Balboa, Panamá Roads, and the Perlas Islands. The submarine arrived in Balboa Harbor on the 27th and moored alongside the submarine tender Holland (AS-3). While on that voyage, on the 19th, she was formally renamed Nautilus.

Fleet participating in exercises in that area.

The boat then set out for Fleet Problem XII on the 16th, headed for Balboa, Canal Zone (C.Z.), to join other components of the U.S. From 29 January to 8 February, she operated from that port conducting submergence tests and torpedo exercises. V-6 arrived at her destination on 29 January 1931, and moored in Berth 60. She got underway again on the 23rd and shaped a course for San Diego, Calif. Her first extensive cruise began on 14 January 1931, when she stood out from San Francisco Bay for Port Susan, Wash., where she arrived five days later on the 19th and anchored in 60 fathoms. From the date of her commissioning through January 1931, V-6 operated out of Mare Island, occasionally making the short trip to San Francisco Bay and vice versa.

Submarine cartoon 80s nautilus