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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

R-21 (SS-98)

R-21 Class Submarine: Laid down, 19 April 1917, at Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, CT.; Launched, 10 July 1918; Commissioned, USS R-21, 17 June 1919; Redesignated USS R-21 (SS-98), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 21 June 1924, at Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, PA.; Laid up in the Reserve Fleet at League Island, PA.; Struck from the Naval Register, 9 May 1930; Final Disposition, sold for scrapping, 30 July 1930.

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 510 t., Submerged: 583 t.; Length 175' ; Beam 16' 8"; Draft 13' 11"; Speed, surfaced 14 kts, submerged 11 kts; Depth Limit, 200'; Complement 2 Officers, 27 Enlisted; Armament, four 18" torpedo tubes forward, 8 torpedoes, one 3"/50 deck gun; Propulsion, diesel electric engines, Busch Sulzer Brothers Diesel Engine Co., diesel engines, HP 1,000, Fuel Capacity, 17,922 gals., Diehl Manufacture Co., electric motors, HP 800, Battery Cells 120, twin propellers.
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Lake's R boats 88k Lake's R-boats R-21-27 / (SS-98/104), were the last of his designs to be built in any numbers. He abandoned amidships diving planes in this class, but his characteristics stern remained. The horizontal tube aft is an access tube connecting the motor room to the tiller room aft. Drawing by Jim Christley, text courtesy of U.S. Submarines Through 1945, An Illustrated Design History by Norman Friedman. Naval Institute Press.
R 852k What will be the R-21 (SS-98) lies on slip 25 as hull #32 3 months after her keel has been laid at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company shipyard, Bridgeport, Connecticut on 19 April 1917. What could be the R-22 (SS-99) lies under construction on her left. Both were laid down on the same day. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2488 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Editors Note: None of the photos from NARA would have seen the light of day here if it were not for the effort of Sean Hert to scan and send them to me. He and Tracy White have done this innumerable times and I owe them a heart felt debt of perpetual thanks for being my legs from over 6,000 miles away.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 1.00k Bow view of the R-21 (SS-98) on 1 October 1917. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2489 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 1.00k Stern view of the R-21 (SS-98) on 8 January 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2490 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 863k Bow view of the R-21 (SS-98) on 1 April 1918.
The R-22 (SS-99) lies under construction on her left. 		US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2491 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 686k R-21 (SS-98) before launching at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company shipyard, Bridgeport, Connecticut on 10 July 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc 989 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 737k Launching of the R-21 (SS-98) at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company shipyard, Bridgeport, Connecticut on 10 July 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc 987 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R-21 555k LAUNCHING NEW TYPE OF SUBMARINE
The launching of R-21 (SS-98) at Bridgeport, Conn., recently marked a new era in the shipbuilding program. It is a submarine of the latest type. 		Image and text provided by University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE.
Photo from The North Platte Semi-Weekly Tribune. (North Platte, Neb.) 1895-1922, 04 October 1918, Image 2, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
R 664k Sporting the flag of her maker and Old Glory, the R-21 (SS-98) glides away after launching at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company shipyard, Bridgeport, Connecticut on 10 July 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc 988 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 665k R-21's (SS-98) 4 torpedo tubes on 14 July 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2492 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 1.00k Central Control Comp. of the R-21 (SS-98) on 14 July 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2493 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 686k Bow view of the R-21 (SS-98) on 15 July 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2494 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 743k Torpedo compartment of R-21 (SS-98) on 7 October 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2495 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 638k R-21's (SS-98) forward battery compartment on 7 October 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2496 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 561k Motor room looking aft on R-21 (SS-98) on 2 January 1919. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2498 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 593k Engine room looking aft on R-21 (SS-98) on 2 January 1919. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2498 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R 986k R-21 (SS-98), R-22 (SS-99), R-23 (SS-100), R-24 (SS-101) & R-27 (SS-104) bow view on 2 January 1919. US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 1239 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R-21 64k Bow view of the R-21 (SS-98) at Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, CT. 15 July 1918. US Navy photo # 19-N-2494, from the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
O & R 995k Bow view of the O-11 (SS-72), R-21 (SS-98), R-22 (SS-99), R-24 (SS-101) & R-27 (SS-104) at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company shipyard, Bridgeport, Connecticut on 7 October 1918. US National Archives photo # 19 lc 1154 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
Photo added 10/24/12.
R-24 134k PDF entitled "How the Diesel engine came to America." Photo courtesy of subvetpaul.com.
R-21,22,23,27 & S-2 411k In port, pictured from left to right:
R-21 (SS-98)
R-23 (SS-100)
R-27 (SS-104)
S-2 (SS-106)
At Lake Torpedo Boat Co. Yard, Bridgeport CT., 2 April 1919. 		US Navy photo # 19-N-2584, from the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
R-21 64k R-21 (SS-98) off the Lake Torpedo Boat Company shipyard, Bridgeport, Connecticut in 1919, when first commissioned. Her deck gun has not yet been fitted. U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph # NH 41519.
View the R-21 (SS-98)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association
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