USS Plunger, ordered in 1895, was the first submarine built for the United States Navy, but she was never completed. On 3 March 1893, the United States Congress authorized the first "submarine torpedo boat" to be built for the U.S. Navy. John P. Holland won a Navy design competition in 1895 to build it with his design for a submarine powered by a steam engine. The Navy ordered Holland's design as USS Plunger, and awarded a contract for her construction to Holland's firm, the Holland Torpedo Boat Company, on 13 March 1895.