The 27 R-class submarines were built to two distinctly different designs at three shipyards. Both designs had similar operational and military characteristics, but had vastly different internal arrangements, equipment installations, and external appearances. The two designs were developed by the Electric Boat Company (EB) of New York City (later Groton, CT.) and the Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, CT. R-1 through R-14 were of the EB design and were built at Bethlehem Quincy near Boston (formerly Fore River Shipbuilding Company). R-15 through R-20 were of the EB design and built at Bethlehem San Francisco (formerly Union Iron Works). R-21 through R-27 were built by Lake at his Bridgeport yard.
The class is broken down by groups below.
R-1 through R-14 (EB design built at Bethlehem Quincy)
R-15 through R-20 (EB design built at Bethlehem San Francisco)
National Archives photo.
In this photo are all six of the R-class submarines assigned for construction to Bethlehem San Francisco. The photo was taken on 03 March 1918 and shows the boats after launching but before completion and commissioning. The three boats in the foreground are (L to R) the R-16, 17, and 18. In the background (order unknown) are the R-15, 19, and 20. When the construction contracts for the boats were written the yard was known as Union Iron Works. By the time of this photo the yard had been acquired by Bethlehem Steel and was properly known as Bethlehem San Francisco (BSF).
BSF launched their boats with much of the superstructure and the conning tower fairwater yet to be installed, and with a false bow that was later replaced with the permanent one prior to completion. This is in marked contrast to the Bethlehem Quincy (BQ) yard near Boston (previously known as Fore River Shipbuilding) that built their group of R-boats with most of the superstructure complete and the conning tower fairwater in place. The cylindrical ribbed tower in the center of each boat is the pressure proof conning tower itself, used as a periscope station for making submerged attacks. Later in the construction phase a sheet steel fairwater would be built around the conning tower to provide a smooth flow of water around the tower, to provide a bridge for the Officer of the Deck and lookouts while surfaced, and to provide supports for the periscopes.
The docks on both sides of the submarines are stacked with huge amounts of materials for ship construction. BSF was also building destroyers and civilian merchant ships at this time and much of this material may be for those ships, as some of it is too large for submarines. What looks like huge sheets of cork insulation are stacked near the center of the photograph. This was applied to the interior of the pressure hull to help control the temperature of the interior of the boat. It was also to prevent condensation from dripping all over the crew and equipment causing discomfort and electrical shorts and grounds. There are also piping unions, elbows, and junctions stacked around seemingly by the hundreds.
R-21 through R-27 (Lake design built at Lake Torpedo Boat Company)
Drawing by Jim Christley courtesy of Navsource.org
An excellent line drawing by artist/historian Jim Christley of the Lake design for the R-class. Simon Lake finally abandoned the concept of zero angle diving with midships diving planes in this class, at the Navy's insistence. The flat horizontal stern and the ventrally mounted rudder, stern planes, and propeller shafts are quite apparent.
