Photograph of the U.S.S Holland underway, ca. 1900. Launched May 17, 1897, as the Holland VI, she was later renamed USS Holland (SS-1) after being sold to the US Navy for $150,000 by the Holland Torpedo Boat Company. This photograph was likely taken soon after she was accepted by the Navy.

In this letter, the Director of Naval History Rear Admiral Ernest M. Eller writes to “Cal,” the decorated retired Rear Admiral Caleb B. Laning. Eller references the photographs that appear in this collection and, curiously, a “submarine museum” in New Suffolk that never materialized. Instead, a historic marker was erected at the site where the U.S.S. Holland and other submarines were stationed.