R-1 in an unknown location, likely on the U.S. east coast, 1940-1945. R-1 had sat in reserve in Philadelphia, decommissioned between 1931 and 1940. As war loomed, the reserve O and R-class boats were reconditioned and put back into service. She served in a variety of unglamorous but vital roles, operating out of New London, Bermuda, Key West, and Casco Bay, Maine. She attacked and most likely damaged a German U-boat on April 16, 1942.
Photo provided by MMCM(SS) Rick Larson, USN (Ret.)
R-2 is shown here in an U.S. east coast port, 1935-1939. She has been painted black from the original haze gray and has received rescue/messenger buoys forward and aft. She has her name painted on the fairwater and superstructure as opposed to her hull number, so all this places the date in the time range given.
A nice aerial photo of the R-3 surfacing off the San Diego coast, 1921-1923. Water is sluicing off the fore deck and bow planes and the very point of the bow is already water free. Just behind the short mast the horizontal barrel of the deck gun can just be made out. The date on the photo back, when it was placed in the newspapers archive, is September 3, 1927 but that doesn't mean that is the date the photo was taken.
The newspaper caption says the submarine is diving but that is clearly wrong. She is moving forward and has an up angle. Right behind the submarine you can see the "pool" and feathered wake created when the conning tower first broke the surface.
The photo was taken from a biplane. The tips of both the upper and lower starboard wing can be seen on the left in the photo.
The newly commissioned R-4 greets an American crew bringing the surrendered German WW I submarine U-111, commanded by Lt. Commander Freeland A. Daubin, USN; to the United States. Date is circa April 19, 1919. The R-4 had been commissioned less than a month before and still has not received her 3"/50 deck gun. Submarines of the Electric Boat design were still called "Holland Types", even though inventor John P. Holland had passed away in 1914. EB had absorbed the original Holland Torpedo Boat Company in 1899. There is an unusual pipe structure on the bow that was to protect the J-tube and SC sonar listening devices installed on the foredeck.
A fine photo of R-5 underway sometime in 1922. The location is likely off the coast of San Diego, CA. This photo is an excerpt from a 1923 photo calendar.
A nice, but posed, photo of R-7 approaching the finger piers at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, 1925. The crew is lined up on deck in dress whites. There are a few buildings of the shipyard visible in the background. The rest of the land there has yet to be developed. Within 15 years all of the land in the background would be incorporated into the growing base. The shoreline would have a pier running along it and it would be a major mooring location for Pacific Fleet units.
