On Sept. 6, 1911 the submarine Carp was launched at Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California. Her name was changed on Nov. 17, 1911 to F-1 and she was commissioned on June 19, 1912 and placed under the command of Lieutenant (j.g.) James B Howell. They conducted trials and tests off the California coast for the next several months. On Sept. 5, 1912 she took the record for the deepest dive when she went to 283' in San Francisco Bay.

On October 11, 1912 she was tied up to the end of the pier at Watsonville, California when heavy seas caused her to break her moorings. A wave broke over the deck and washed two men overboard and injuring a third. Floating helplessly at the mercy of the sea Lt. Howell and his men did all they could to keep her off the shore, but another wave lifted her on to the beach. Sitting high on the shore it would be several days before she could be refloated. Sadly the two men who went over the side could not be found, their bodies washed up within the next few days. USS F-1 was repaired, but she met her end on Dec. 17, 1917 when she collided with her sister boat F-3, in this incident nineteen men were lost.