On 11 April 1900, the United States purchased one of a series of Irish émigré John P. Holland's experimental submarines, the Holland VI , for $150,000. The boat by this time had been in the water for three years undergoing trials and modifications. Commissioned on 12 October 1900 as the USS Holland , and later designated SS-1, she had a short service life of seven years, before being decommissioned on 21 November 1910. The Holland is pictured here at Greenpoint, Long Island, in 1899 in her final form as accepted by the Navy. Her two masts would fold down while she ran submerged. There was no periscope; the commander had to porpoise the boat for vision above water.
