USS Pike (SS–173) was laid down on 20 December 1933 by Portsmouth Navy Yard, in Kittery, Maine; launched on 12 September 1935; sponsored by Miss Jane Logan Snyder; and commissioned on 2 December 1935, Lieutenant Heber H. "Tex" McLean in command. Pike was the first all-welded submarine. The welded hull allowed Pike to submerge to much greater depths than her predecessors and at the same time provided greater protection against depth-charge attacks.