USS O-12 (SS-73)

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Career
Laid down:	6 March 1916
Launched:	29 September 1917
Commissioned:	19 October 1918
Fate:	scuttled 20 November 1931
Struck:	29 May 1930
General Characteristics
Displacement:	491 tons surfaced, 566 tons submerged
Length:	175 feet
Beam:	16.5 feet
Draft:	13.9 feet
Propulsion:	Busch Sulzer Brothers 1000 hp diesels, Diehl 800 hp electric motors, single shaft
Fuel:	18,588 gallons
Speed:	14 knots surfaced, 11 knots submerged
Depth:	200 feet
Complement:	two officers and 27 men
Armament:	one three-inch/23-caliber gun; four 18-inch torpedo tubes, eight torpedoes

USS O-12 (SS-73) was an O-11 class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down 6 March 1916 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was launched 29 September 1917 sponsored by Mrs. Homer S. Cummings, and commissioned 18 October 1918 with Lieutenant Commander J.E. Austin in command.

Submarine O-12 spent much of her career as a unit of Submarine Division 1, based at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone. In 1921, she was awarded a Battle Efficiency Pennant and trophy for gunnery (gun and torpedo). She decommissioned 17 June 1924 and was placed in reserve at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

Struck from the Naval Vessel Register 29 July 1930, she transferred to the United States Shipping Board for conversion by the Philadelphia Navy Yard for use on the Sir Hubert Wilkins Arctic Expedition of geophysical investigation.

After use by Lake and Dannenhower, Inc., of Bridgeport, Connecticut for the Wilkins-Ellsworth Arctic Expedition, during which the submarine bore the name Nautilus, O-12 was returned to the Navy Department. She was scuttled 20 November 1931 in a Norwegian fjord.