R-27

R-27 on the ways at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, CT. on her launch day of September 23, 1918. Strangely, R-27 was launched eight months before the R-25 (see photo on previous page). At the time of the R-27 launch, Lake was under a lot of schedule pressure from the Navy so he launched her without a conning tower fairwater or bridge installed as seen here. By the time of R-25's launch on May 15, 1919 the war was over and the schedule pressure had eased considerably. That allowed Lake to take the construction of R-25 to a more advanced state prior to launching.

National Archives photo.

Jon Sarubbi emailed Ric Hedman about this photo: My grandfather, Henry Jappell, served in the U.S. Navy in the early 1920s. I do not have a complete record of his service. According to the 1920 US Census, he served as a Fireman 1st Class aboard the USS R-27 in Panama in 1920. He is identified as the second man from the left.

The photo is taken with the men standing in front of the 3"/50 caliber deck gun. One man seems to have missed getting in the photo as all that is visible of him are his legs, seen to the right side of Henry Jappell.

The odd looking assortment of wood seen attached to the steel deck are cleats used by the men working the gun so their feet don't slip on the slick decking. These cleats would have been a trip hazard while working the gun, and they were later removed and this area was planked over with slatted teak decking.

Seen in the background between the two men on the left is one of Henry Ford's Eagle-class patorl boats. A periscope of another sub is seen behind the men on the right. Photo location is Panama.

Photo Courtesy of Jon Sarubbi, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Henry Jappell is again identified as the second man from the left in this photo. To Jappell's left is a Chief Machinist Mate, and to the left of the Chief is John Lawrence Palmer, a Machinist Mate 1st Class. The man on the far left is a 2nd Class Machinist Mate. The rest of the men appear to be non-rated strikers. One man is in working clothes. This is possibly the whole engine room gang.

John Lawrence Palmer joined the Navy at age 18 in in 1918. He is identified by Dennis G. Mohler as his wife's grandfather and he was said to be a career Navy man.

Photo Courtesy of Jon Sarubbi, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Henry Jappell is identified as being in the middle in this R-27 crew photo. Five other buddies are posing with him for the camera.

Photo Courtesy of Jon Sarubbi, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

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