Holland Torpedo Boat Company
Holland Torpedo Boat Company was founded by John Philip Holland (1841 – 1914[1]) in 1893. Holland was an Irish engineer-inventor, who designed and built the first practical submarine. His Holland VI was renamed the USS Holland (SS-1), and became the US Navy's first submarine. In 1899 the Holland Torpedo Boat Company became part of the Electric Boat Company.[2]
Company type
Subsidiary starting 1899
1893
February 21, 1952 into General Dynamics
Electric Boat Company starting 1899
With the success of the USS Holland submarines, the Holland Torpedo Boat Company was awarded a contract for the next generation submarines, the A class called the Plunger class submarines. Between 1900 and 1903 seven Plunger-class submarines were built.
The Holland Torpedo Boat Company built a series of submarines after the Plunger class each with some improvements:
End of Holland - Nixon partnership[edit]
The K-class was the last submarine that Holland worked on, ending the 19-year partnership with Nixon that started in 1895. Holland died on August 12, 1914, at age 74 in Newark, New Jersey. Holland is interred at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in the city of Totowa, New Jersey. Holland died poor and his grave had no headstone for many years. On October 11, 1976, a large headstone was placed on his grave. At the October 11, 1976 ceremony was, Chief Willard Clewall Sr., a retired Navy officer and a veteran that was a crew member on a Holland submarine in 1908.[32] Later a new headstone with Holland photo was placed on the grave. The 1976 headstone was shipped to Holland's home town of Liscannor. In Liscannor, Ireland a commemorating plaque was built in 1964, the city placed it there on the 50th anniversary of Holland's death. In the city of Liscannor, Castle Street was renamed Holland Street in Holland's honor. Holland married Margaret T. Foley (1862–1920) in 1887, and they had three children. In New Suffolk, Long Island, on April 8, 2000, a new Holland monument was dedicated to the first US Submarine Base, US Navy Submarine Veterans place the monument at the site of the Holland Torpedo Boat Station.[33][3][34] The John P. Holland Centre, is a centre dedicated to the life and work of John P. Holland. It is based in Liscannor[35]
Some pre-war submarines were used in World War II and some were recommissioned and put into service due to the high demand.
Holland stands in the hatch of his submarine
Plunger while under construction at the Columbian Iron Works, Baltimore, Maryland, an 1895 prototype
USS Holland (SS-1) in 1898. The muzzle door of the bow dynamite gun is open. Docked in New York City.
