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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

R-27 (SS-104)

R-21 Class Submarine: Laid down, 16 May 1917, at Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, CT.; Launched, 23 September 1918; Commissioned, USS R-27, 3 September 1919; Redesignated USS R-25 (SS-102), 17 July 1920; Decommissioned, 24 April 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.
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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.
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-27 606k R-27 (SS-104) pre-launch photo, 23 Sept 1918. Lake Torpedo Boat Co, Bridgeport, CT. Text contributed by Ric Hedman/rddesigns.com. USN photo courtesy of Scott Koen & ussnewyork.com.
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-21,22,23,27 & 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-23,25, 26 & 27 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.
R-24 134k PDF entitled "How the Diesel engine came to America." Photo courtesy of subvetpaul.com.
R-27 94k Portside view of the R-27 (SS-104) underway, possibly off Hawaii, date unknown. US NARA photo courtesy of ussubvetsofwwii.org
View the R-27 (SS-104)
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
PigBoats.COM TM A Historic Look at Submarines
HISTORIC SUBMARINE DOCUMENTARY AND TRAINING FILMS
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