Alert, serving as tender for the Third Submarine Division of the Pacific Fleet, lying alongside the wharf at Kuahua Island, U.S. Naval Station, Pearl Harbor, 22 August 1917. K-3 and K-4 are identifiable alongside; the unidentified "boat" is probably K-8. |
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| Career | |
|---|---|
| Name: | USS Alert |
| Builder: | John Roach & Sons |
| Laid down: | 1873 |
| Launched: | 18 September 1874 |
| Commissioned: | 27 May 1875 |
| Decommissioned: | 9 March 1922 |
| Fate: | Sold 29 July 1922 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type: | Alert-class gunboat |
| Displacement: | 1,020 long tons (1,040 t) |
| Length: | 199 ft 9 in (60.88 m) |
| Beam: | 32 ft (9.8 m) |
| Draft: | 13 ft (4.0 m) |
| Speed: | 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 202 officers and enlisted |
| Armament: | 1 × 11 in (280 mm) smoothbore, 2 × 9 in (230 mm) smoothbore, 1 × 60-pounder rifled, Spar torpedoes |
The third USS Alert was an iron-hulled screw steamer gunboat in the United States Navy. The lead ship in her class, Alert was destined for a long naval career, serving from 1875 to 1922, a period of 47 years, including service as a submarine tender in World War I. Toward the end of her career she received the designation AS-4.
Alert was laid down in 1873 by John Roach & Sons at Chester, Pennsylvania in 1873. Launched on 18 September 1874, Alert was commissioned for the first time on 27 May 1875, Commander William T. Sampson in command.