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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

R-26 (SS-103)

R-21 Class Submarine: Laid down, 26 April 1917, at Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, CT.; Launched, 18 June 1919; Commissioned, USS R-26, 23 October 1919; Redesignated USS R-26 (SS-103), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 12 June 1925, 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.

Size	Image Description	Source
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.
134k	PDF entitled "How the Diesel engine came to America."	Photo courtesy of subvetpaul.com.
386k	R-26 (SS-103) bow view, a month after launching at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company Dock Yard, Bridgeport, CT. 10 July 1919.	US Navy photo # 19-N-2568, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
222k	Bow view of *R-boats* before commissioning. R-23 (SS-100), R-25 (SS-102) & R-26 (SS-103) were all commissioned on the same day, 23 October 1919. R-27 (SS-104) was commissioned on 3 September 1919. Pictured from left to right: *R-26, R-25, R-27* & *R-23* at Lake Torpedo Boat Co. Yard, Bridgeport CT., 10 July 1919. Note: The "H" painted on the hulls of these boats was the Lake yard hull number designation. EB had similar things. These yards built more than subs and each hull was numbered in sequence.	US Navy photo # 19-N-2585, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Pete Sundstrom. Partial text courtesy of Ric Hedman.
171k	R-26 (SS-103) getting ready to submerge at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, 22, September 1923.	US Navy photo # 19-N-10578A, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
162k	US Submarine base at Coco Solo, Panama 1923. The R-26 (SS-103) is in the background with the white tarp over her fore deck. The Submarine Chaser in the background is *SC 285. The O-3* (SS-64) & O-7 (SS-68) are in front of the *R-26. The O-9* (SS-70) is next closest to the camera. The two boats in the foreground are the *O-5* and a mystery *"O"* boat. The *O-5* reported to Coco Solo in January of 1923 and she sank 18 Oct 1923 with the loss of 2 lives.	US Navy photo courtesy of Ric Hedman. Photo added 11/08/09.
58k	Jason (AC-12) at Coco Solo, Panama Canal Zone, circa 1924. Several submarines are in the foreground, including (from left to right): S-19 (SS-124); O-9 (SS-70); R-26 (SS-103) -- probably--; and O-2 (SS-63).	Courtesy of Chief Boatswain's Mate George Behrens, USN (Retired), 1974. U.S. Navy photo NH 102780, courtesy of USNHC.

View the R-26 (SS-103)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.

Crew Contact And Reunion Information
U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation
Fleet Reserve Association

Additional Resources and Web Sites of Interest
Through the Looking Glass A Historic Look at Submarines

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