R-class group photos

Four Lake design R-class submarines under construction at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company yard in Bridgeport, CT., July 10, 1919. From left to right are R-26, R-25, R-27, and R-23. The "H" numbers on the bows of the 27 and 23 boat are Lake company production numbers and do not reflect the boat's name. Lake's company was stretched thin at this point. In addition to these four boats, Lake had one more R-class and five S-class boats under construction. S-2 (SS-106) was in the water at another pier nearby. Lake was struggling with labor and production issues. His boats were universally delivered late.

National Archives photo.

This photo was taken in approximately March 1919, (about 6 months after R-17's commissioning), at the San Pedro piers near Los Angeles, California. The boat closest to the camera is believed to be the R-18 (SS-95). At this time the R-18 did not have any anti-fouling apparatus mounted around her "T" shaped SC Tube sound gear. The boat with the triangle is the R-17. The boat with the "plus sign" on her conning tower is the R-19 (SS-96). Both of these submarines have men and officers on the bridges. The last submarine in this nest is the R-20 (SS-97), just one of her three vertical stripes can be seen.

The boats have their portable navigation light mounted to the "Y" shaped spreaders used to pass the clearing wires, (used for passing mine cables over the submarine). These lights are hung on large "hooks" on the end of each spreader. The lights were then plugged into waterproof electrical outlets. At the extreme left, just above the man's head on the bridge, one of these "hooks" for the nav lights can be seen. The R-19 also has crew bedding hung on the clearing wires for airing and drying.

All boats are carrying the 3"/23 caliber Mk 9 gun built at the Naval Gun Factory. The muzzle end of the gun can be seen protruding vertically through a circular gun shield, with the breech end of the gun retracted into a watertight tub down in the forward battery compartment. These guns were disliked by the crews as being too little in hitting power and dangerous to use as they had a tendency to retract spontaneously, often times onto feet or toes. They were soon to be replaced by the 3"/50 caliber Mk 6 gun.

The nest as a whole seems to be warping away from the pier. The man in the center right foreground is tending a hawser still attached to the pier. A man at the extreme right on the R-19 seems to be tending a line attached to the R-17. The men on the deck of the R-20 all seem to be facing away from the camera as if in expectation of something to happen on that side of the submarine. The gangplank from the R-17 to the R-18 has been removed, the one between the R-17 and R-19 is still there. It can't be seen if the one between R-19 and R-20 is still in place.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

The R-class submarines of Submarine Division 9, along with S-3 (SS-107) and the S-4 (SS-109), circa December 1919, moored to the submarine tender USS Camden (AS-6) at the 79th Street Boat Basin on Manhattan's west side for a port visit while enroute to the Gulf of Mexico for big fleet maneuvers. Later, in April 1921, SubDiv 9 was transferred to San Pedro and arrived there on June 30, 1921. We know this photo was taken on the 1919 trip since the R-9 did not transfer to the Pacific until 1924 and she is seen in these photos.

U.S. Navy photo.

Submarine Division 9 plaque displaying the number "9" as a Chinese dragon. The head is a little hard to see. What looks like a horn above the head is actually one half of the dragon's mustache. Near the base of the mustache, to the right, are two dots which are the eyes. The rest of the mustache points down. The mouth is open and fangs from top and bottom jaws are almost touching.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

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Two photos of Submarine Division 9 taken a few minutes after each other, December 1919. The division is moored to the submarine tender Camden (AS-9) at the 79th Street Boat Basin in Manhattan's west side. They are in port for a visit enroute to the Gulf of Mexico for big fleet maneuvers. Seen bow on from left to right are the Camden, the R-1, R-2, R-4, R-5, R-6, R-10, and R-9.

U.S. Navy photos.

In another of the December 1919 New York City photos, SubDiv 9 is shown moored to the Camden. This photo was likely taken from the fantail of the S-4, moored outboard in the nest.

U.S. Navy photo.

R-class submarines of SubDiv 9, in an undated photo taken at the piers at 54th street in New York City, most likely taken in April or May 1920 after their return from the winter war games in the Gulf of Mexico.

U.S. Navy photo.

Camden and her brood of R-class submarines. The submarines are, left to right; R-1, R-6, R-5, R-7, unidentified, and the R-2.

The photo is purported to have been taken on May 2, 1920 at New York City. The background does not look to be the New Jersey shore seen in images above but more like the East River and Brooklyn. More research is still needed.

An officer can be seen standing on the deck of the Camden in front of one of the four 4"/50 caliber guns the Camden carried. She also carried two 3"/50 caliber guns. There appears to be other Navy vessels moored near and around her and the submarines.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Close up of a vessel on the far shoreline. It appears to be a Navy design and could possibly be the mine sweeper USS Robin (AM-3) which had just returned from duty sweeping mines in European waters from WW I.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

R-4 along with the R-10 moored to the Municipal/Broadway Pier in San Diego, Calif circa 1922. The photo has been damaged on the left, obscuring the identification of the boat there, but it is likely it is another R-class submarine. There were a number of other R-class submarines stationed on the west coast at this time and it could be any one of them.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

An unknown R-class submarine in a choppy sea, circa 1919-1920. The webmasters are speculating that this was during the transit from California to Hawaii. There is a bit of a rough sea running, and the boat is cresting a wave with the bow lifted and the stern submerged. That long transit would not have been much fun for the crew in anything other than calm seas.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

A group of sailors on an unknown R-class submarine, location unknown, date is approximately 1922. The open deck hatch is likely for the torpedo loading hatch and these men have probably just finished a day's work of loading torpedoes. Note the R-6 (SS-83) moored in the nest in the background.

Photo from MMCM(SS) Rick Larson, USN (Ret.)

A nest of R-class submarines moored to a tender at Pearl Harbor in 1925. There was a tender mooring on the west side of Kuahua within the harbor (the modern-day pier F9), and this is possibly where this photo was taken. Left to right: R-8, R-1, R-7, R-5, and R-6.

Photo provided by MMCM(SS) Rick Larson, USN (Ret.)

Eleven R-class submarines moored to the finger piers at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, early 1920's. This photo was taken just a few years after the base had been willed into existence by Commander Chester W. Nimitz and several earnest Chief Petty Officers. The pier on the right was used to moor the old cruiser Chicago (CA-14). Chicago was being used as a floating headquarters for the Submarine Base personnel and for Submarine Division 14. By the date of this photo Chicago had been moved around to a new pier constructed to the far left in this photo, and this pier was being demolished as it was too narrow for submarine use. Within the next 20 years all of the undeveloped land in the background across Merry Loch and Southeast Loch would be fully incorporated into the rapidly expanding base. The shipyard is just out of view on the right.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Six R-class submarines moored at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, 1921-1922. From left to right: R-18, R-16, R-20, R-17, R-15, and R-19. This was very early in the development of the base. Conditions there in this period were still quite primitive and the base was physically separated from the shipyard by quite a bit.

USN photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

A closeup of the photo above, showing details of the middle pier and the buildings of the small sub base in the background.

USN photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

A closeup of the three boats on the left in the above photo. R-16 has both engines running and is warped out from the side of R-20. However, she is not getting underway or mooring as there are no line handlers topside and no one on the bridge, just one sailor keeping an eye on the lines. Most likely she is running engine tests that involve turning propellers so she was moved out a bit to ensure there was no interference with R-20.

USN photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Another closeup showing details of the boats on the right side of the photo above.

USN photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

 

R-Boats with post World War I markings on conning tower fairwaters, Pearl Harbor, approximately 1921-1923. This was a non-standard method used to aid in visually identifying the boats at a distance. Use of the method only lasted a few years. The R-11 is on the left with the two horizontal stripes. The R-16 has the circle, the R-17 has the triangle marking, and the boat with three stripes is the R-20.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Navy Day October 27, 1930. The location is purported to be Pearl Harbor. Six R-class submarines are moored to a central pier and have "dressed ship" for the occasion with signal flags. Also seen are awnings suspended over the deck and hatch areas in attempts to keep the interior cool. The photo is of poor quality since it was probably taken with a small handheld camera that moved as the shutter was snapped.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

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This is a series of photos taken on several different R-boats while at sea, mid 1920's. Which boats these came from has been lost to us. These submarines tended to be wet boats in a heavy sea, and this can be seen here.

Photos in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

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This series of photos illustrate how an R-class boat retrieved a practice torpedo after being fired, and how that weapon was moved back down into the torpedo room. It was a tricky and dangerous process, as the Mk 9 and 10 torpedoes used by the R-boats weighed in excess of 2000 lbs. (930 kg). The location that these photos were taken is not known, but it is presumed to be off Hawaii. The fourth photo shows an R-boat after its return to port, with another R-boat behind having a torpedo on the loading skid.

Photos in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

R-1 and R-2 in the locks at Panama enroute to Philadelphia and New London circa January 1931. R-1 arrived at Philadelphia on 9 February and was decommissioned at the Navy Yard there on May 1, 1931. She was held in reserve for future reactivation.

The R-2 was enroute to New London, Ct. and attached to Submarine Division 4 (SUBDIV 4) and for the next ten years served as a training ship for the Submarine School at New London and for the Yale University NROTC unit.

Photo provided by MMCM(SS) Rick Larson, USN (Ret.)

R-3 and R-4 in the locks at Panama enroute to New London, CT. approximately January 1931. The R-3 was enroute to New London to serve as a training ship at the Submarine School, New London for five months. She was then ordered on May 6, 1931 to Washington, D.C. for air purification tests by the Naval Research Laboratory.

The R-4 was to join R-2 in New London, serving as a training ship at the Submarine School and for the Yale University NROTC unit.

Photo provided by MMCM(SS) Rick Larson, USN (Ret.)

R-5 and R-6 in the locks at Panama enroute to New London, CT., January 1931. The R-5 with Divisions 9 and 14 transited the Panama Canal on January 28, 1931 and arrived at New London on February 9th. She was assigned to Division 4 on April 1st and acted as training ship for the Submarine School until sailing on April 28, 1932 for the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she decommissioned and placed in reserve on June 30, 1932. R-6 arrived on February 9, 1931 at Philadelphia Navy Yard where she decommissioned on May 4th.

Depression era economics and the provisions of the Washington and London Naval Treaties were forcing the Navy to lay up these relatively new submarines. The R-class submarines put into the mothball fleet in Philadelphia were reactivated in 1940 and put back into service as war clouds loomed. Keeping them around proved to be a good decision.

Photo provided by MMCM(SS) Rick Larson, USN (Ret.)

An unknown R-class submarine moored at Submarine Base New London, Groton, CT., approximately 1931-1935. Some of the buildings in the background are still in existence 100 years later.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

This photo was taken at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1930. These are all WWI era submarines that have been decommissioned and are awaiting disposal. None would ever see active service again. In the background are seven Lake design R-boats, ex-R-21 through ex-R-27. To the left of ex-R-25 is a K-class boat. In the foreground are three L-class and three K-class boats.

Photo from the private collection of Ric Hedman.

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