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NavSource Online: Submarine Photo Archive

R-27 (SS-104)

Radio Call Sign: November - India - Mike - Foxtrot
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.
R-27 544k R-27 (SS-104) pre-launch photo, 23 September 1918. Lake Torpedo Boat Co, Bridgeport, CT. Photographer: Committee Public Information.
National Archives Identifier: 45548599
Local Identifier: 165-WW-505B-29.
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
SS 99
0809900		NR TWIN SUBMARINES ARE
CHRISTENED TODAY AT
LAUNCHING AT LAKE'S
Bottles of Champagne Broken on Bows of the R-22 and R 27 in Presence of Large Gathering of Distinguished Guests Launching Entirely Successful.
 Two more nails were driven in the coffin of William "the Last," today when a double launching at the Lake Torpedo Boat Company's yards added the R-22 (SS-99) and the R-27 (SS-104), two of the largest submarines ever built, to the fighting forces of Democracy. 		Image and text provided by Connecticut State Library, Hartford, CT.
Photo from Republican Farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1810-1920, 27 September 1918, Image 6, via chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
R-27 365k The R-27 (SS-104) is in mid stream, 23 September 1918. Lake Torpedo Boat Co, Bridgeport, CT. Photographer: Committee Public Information.
National Archives Identifier: 45548595
Local Identifier: 165-WW-505B-27.
Photo courtesy of catalog.archives.gov
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 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-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-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. 		USN photo # 19-N-2585, from the National Archives and Records Administration
(NARA), courtesy of Pete Sundstrom.
Partial text courtesy of Ric Hedman.
SS-104NRHELD ORDERED FOR SUBMARINE
Vessel in Distress Off Coast of Nassau, Wireless Message Says. Washington, 20 September, Assistance for the American submarine R-27 (SS-104), which Sunday night sent out a distress call while en route from Coco Solo, Panama-Canal Zone, to Quantanamo Bay, Cuba, has been ordered by the navy department. 		Image and text provided by State Historical Society of North Dakota.
Photo & text by Grand Forks Herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 20 September 1921, Image 3, courtesy of chroniclingamerica.loc.gov.
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
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-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
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PigBoats.COM TM A Historic Look at Submarines
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