R-20 Album

USS R-20 Photo Album

This photo album was found in the archives of the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum by Mr. Darryl Baker who has spent many hours copying these images to share. The album is from an unnamed sailor who apparently served aboard the USS R-20 in its very early years in service with the United States Navy. His small and imperfect camera has preserved remarkable images rarely seen in much bigger archives. The camera produced images of only 2.5 inches by 1.75 inches in size so the quality is not of the best but the images preserved are of the utmost importance.

Especially important are the photos showing the modifications to the hulls necessary for the transition from the 3 inch 23 caliber deck gun that these submarines were first outfitted with and the and preparations necessary for the installation of the much larger 4 inch 50 caliber gun. This necessitated the enlargement of the deck area with sponsons to accommodate the larger swinging area for this gun.

The photos were taken over a span of time. In some of the images the three vertical stripes on the chariot bridge are missing and in others they are present. The assumption is the lack of stripes are the earlier photos and the presence of them are later. No intention was made to sequence the photos by this time frame. They have been grouped by subject matter thereby creating a narrative on the page that is less scattered and more cohesive. It is clear now that the shapes painted on the bridge structures were done early in these submarines' lives and they wore them for a good majority of their service.

Photo Captions By Dave Johnston and Ric Hedman except where noted.

Running On The Surface ~ Deck Gun Raised

Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum via Mr Darryl Baker

The USS R-20 heading out to sea on exercises with sister ships seen in the advance. The bow is dipping into the waves and washing over on to the deck.

These early R-Class submarines were built with the retractable 3"/23 caliber deck guns. The gun in this photo is in the raised position. Normally the gun would be retracted into it waterproof housing to protect it from sea water.