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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

R-21 (SS-98)

Radio Call Sign: November - India - Lima - Victor
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
R 361k R-21 (SS-98) christening by Mrs. Dallas C. Laizure on 10 July 1918. Photo courtesy of Dale Hargrave.
R-21
0809820		 NR IMMENSE CROWD SEES LAUNCHING OF A SUBMARINE
PATRIOTISM THE KEYNOTE OF TALKS
Lake Yards Scene of Initial Dip of New Craft to Fight the Kaiser
The R-21 (SS-98) Takes Water With out a Mishap Cheered by Thousands of Workers.		 Image and text provided by Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT.
Photo from the The Bridgeport Times and Evening Farmer. (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1918-1924, 11 July 1918, Image 2, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
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.
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.
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.
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.
R-21 686k Bow view of the R-21 (SS-98) on 15 July 1918. High resolution view US National Archives photo # 19 lc cr 2494 from NARA, College Park, Maryland, courtesy of Sean Hert.
O-11 850k O-11 (SS-72) fitting out at the Lake Torpedo Boat Co., Bridgeport, Connecticut, July, 1918. R-21 (SS-98) is fitting out at left. Source: Naval History and Heritage Command, Photo No. NH 44557 via Mike Green.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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. 		USN photo # 19-N-2584, from the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
R-21 1.26k 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. USNHC photograph # NH 41519.
R-23, 25 & S-1 1.58k Control Force submarines and their tenders at Cristobal, Panama Canal Zone, circa 1923. The tenders are (from left to right):
Savannah (AS-8),
Bushnell (AS-2),
Beaver (AS-5) and
Camden (AS-6).
Submarines are mostly R-boats, among them R-23 (SS-100) and R-25 (SS-102), both in the nest alongside Savannah's port quarter. The larger submarine alongside Savannah's bow may be S-1 (SS-105), with her large seaplane hangar. 		USNHC photograph # NH 42573. Photographed by A.E. Wells. Courtesy of Commander Christopher Noble, USN (Retired), 1967.
S-16 1.40k S-16 (SS-121) & next to her is possibly the S-50 (SS-161) with another unknown S-boat and 4 unidentified R-boats alongside their tender, Shawmut (CM-4) probably in the Panama Canal area, circa 1924. USN photo #80-G-1024884, from the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), courtesy of Daniel Dunham.
View the R-21 (SS-98)
DANFS history entry located on the Haze Gray & Underway Web Site.
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