![]() Tied up along the dock from right to left: R-12 (SS-89), R-15 (SS-92), R-13 (SS-90) with R-9 (SS-86) and an unidentified R-boat probably in Pearl Harbor, c. mid-1920s.
| |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | R class |
Builders |
|
Operators | |
Preceded by | O class |
Succeeded by | S class |
Built | 1917–1919 |
In commission | 1918–1931, 1940–1945 |
Completed | 27 |
Lost | 2 |
Retired | 25 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Submarine |
Displacement |
|
Length |
|
Beam |
|
Draft |
|
Propulsion |
|
Speed |
|
Test depth | 200 ft (61 m) |
Complement | 30 officers and men |
Armament |
|
The R-class submarines were a class of United States Navy coastal-defense submarines active from 1918 until 1945. With the first of the class laid down following the American entry into World War I, they were built rapidly. Although R-15 through R-20 were completed July–October 1918, they did not serve overseas, and the bulk of the class were not completed until after the Armistice. As had been the usual practice in several of the preceding classes, design and construction of the 27 boats of this class was split between the Electric Boat Company and the Lake Torpedo Boat Company. Both designs were built to the same military operational specifications, but differed considerably in design and detail specifics.[4]