USS Fulton (AS-1)-- Part 2: Sponsored By the Granddaughter of Robert Fulton

Laid Down 2 October 1913, launched 6 June 1914,  commissioned 7 December 1914, decommissioned  5 October 1925, recommissioned 2 September 1930, reclassified as a gunboat (PG-49) and decommissioned  12 May 1934.  Scrapped 1934.

226.6 feet long, 35 foot beam,   complement 6 officers and 129 enlisted.  Armament two 3-inch and one 1-pdr. antiaircraft gun.

Originally to be named the USS Niagara, but renamed  Fulton 10 Feb. 1913.  Launched  6 June 1914 at New London Ship and Engine  Company, Groton, Connecticut.  The ship was sponsored by Mrs. A.T. Sutcliffe, granddaughter of Robert Fulton, for whom the ship was named.

During her first six months, the Fulton tended submarines in Norfolk,  Charleston, New York and  Newport, then, after overhaul, arrived in New London on 2 November 1915 and became  the base ship for the newly-formed Submarine School in 1918.  Through 1922, this was her main base of operations with submarines along the U.S. east coast.

--Cooter