R-16

Exterior and Crew Photos

R-16 under construction at the Bethlehem San Francisco (BSF) yard, January 3, 1918. Two of her sisters are on either side. BSF launched their boats only about 20% complete, finishing the work while the boat was sitting alongside a fitting out pier. BSF was very busy with wartime shipbuilding contracts, and had to clear the ways so that a new hull could be laid down. Their relatively roomy waterfront allowed them to do this. Other yards, like Bethlehem Quincy in Massachusetts launched the boat when it was about 59% complete. This photo shows her with a false bow that was added for the launch. It would later be replaced with a permanent one with a towing fairlead through the stem. R-16 is sitting very high in the water; both of her upper torpedo tubes are visible. The vertical cylinder in the center is the conning tower. Note the open hatch at the top that will eventually lead to the bridge. The conning tower will have an extensive fairwater built around it that will also form the supporting periscope shears.

Photo courtesy of the Submarine Force Library & Museum.

The rudder and stern planes of the R-16 while the boat was under construction on January 3, 1918 in San Francisco. The axial mounted rudder is attached right at the end of the hull. A push rod exits the aft skeg and is attached to the rudder. This rod enters the hull through a watertight packing gland and is used by the electrical steering gear inside the motor room to move the rudder left or right. Both of the stern planes are angled downward in the full dive position. The twin propellers have not yet been installed just forward of the planes.

Photo courtesy of the Submarine Force Library & Museum.

A very nice crew photo of the R-16, likely taken in Pearl Harbor in the early 1920's by famed Hawaiian photographer Tai Sing Loo. The young boy in front is likely the son of the commanding officer. Submarines and ships of the era sometimes had ceremonial mascots of young boys, so this young lad might be that too. The deck gun has been turned to port and the back row of men are standing on it.

U.S. Navy photo.

This photo of R-16 was taken in Pearl Harbor in the mid 1920's. It illustrates an unusual feature for the time. Instead of the boat's name (R-16) painted on the side of the fairwater, the boat's hull number is there (93). Although a Navy standard after 1938, having the hull number displayed during this time was quite rare. Why it is being done here is not known. All other R-class photos of this era show the name. That makes this view unique.

Photo courtesy of the USSVWII via Navsource.org

Interior Photos

Notes

A large number of interior photos of the R-16 were discovered at the Vallejo Naval & Historical Museum by submarine researcher Darryl Baker. He kindly took the time to scan the images and send them on to PigBoats.COM for posting. We have worked at bringing out as much detail of the images as possible and in a number occasions even make close-ups of interesting bits of information. The photos are reported to have been taken in 1923.

Torpedo Room

The R-16 torpedo tube doors. You can see that the hull narrows quite a lot at this point by the curvature of the hull frames. The hull at this point is not a true circle but a vertical ellipse.

Each door has a sea pressure gauge and sight glass except for door on Number One torpedo tube. The sight glass may have been damaged and has yet to be replaced. The tubes are numbered from right to left and top to bottom; 1, 2 and 3, 4. Odd numbers on the starboard side and even on the port side. The row of large wheel handles are for opening and closing the shutter doors on the outside of the bow. The shutters are inter-linked with the torpedo tube muzzle door that close off the seaward end of the torpedo tube.

The black squares in the corners are from the tabs that glued the photo into the original scrapbook.