USS ''R-24'' (SS-101) was an R-class coastal and harbor defense submarine built for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare, maritime military branch, service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest Displacement (ship), displacement, at 4.5 millio ...

during World War I.

Description

The R-boats built by

Lake Torpedo Boat The Lake Torpedo Boat Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut, was an early builder of submarines for the United States Navy in the early 20th century. History Founded by Simon Lake in 1912, the company was located at the east end of Seaview Avenue i ...

Company (''R-21'' through ''R-27'') are sometimes considered a separate class from those of the other builders. The Lake boats had a length of

overall Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers ...

, a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...

of and a mean

draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...

of . They displaced on the surface and submerged. The R-class submarines had a crew of 3 officers and 23 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of .Friedman, p. 308 For surface running, the boats were powered by two

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which Combustion, ignition of diesel fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to Mechanics, mechanical Compr ...

s, each driving one

propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...

. When submerged each propeller was driven by a

electric motor An electric motor is a machine that converts electrical energy into mechanical energy. Most electric motors operate through the interaction between the motor's magnetic field and electric current in a electromagnetic coil, wire winding to gene ...

. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the Lake boats had a range of at and at submerged. The boats were armed with four 21-inch (53.3 cm)

torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...

s in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The R-class submarines were also armed with a single 3"/50 caliber

deck gun A deck gun is a type of naval artillery mounted on the deck of a submarine. Most submarine deck guns were open, with or without a shield; however, a few larger submarines placed these guns in a turret. The main deck gun was a dual-purpose w ...

.Gardiner & Gray, p. 129

Construction and career

''R-24'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one ...

on 9 May 1919 by the

Company of

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

. She was launched on 21 August 1918 sponsored by Mrs. Edmund R. Norton, and commissioned on 27 June 1919. After four months of coastal operations off southern

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

, ''R-24'' got underway for her homeport,

Coco Solo Coco Solo was a United States Navy submarine base and naval air station near the Panama Canal, active from 1918 to the 1960s. History The submarine base at Coco Solo was established May 6, 1918. The site corresponds with modern-day Cativá i ...

Panama Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone (), also known as just the Canal Zone, was a International zone#Concessions, concession of the United States located in the Isthmus of Panama that existed from 1903 to 1979. It consisted of the Panama Canal and an area gene ...

, on 1 November. Based there for her active service she was given

hull classification symbol The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol (sometimes called hull code or hull number) to identify their ships by type and by ind ...

SS-101 in July 1920 and at the end of 1921 she returned to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for a shipyard overhaul. In the fall of 1922, she resumed operations out of Coco Solo and Balboa. A year later she again sailed to the United States for a shipyard overhaul and at the end of 1924 she returned for inactivation. On 25 January 1925, she arrived at

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

, and on 11 June she was decommissioned after only five-and-a-half years of service. ''R-24'' was berthed at

League Island League Island was an island in the Delaware River, part of the city of Philadelphia, just upstream from the mouth of the Schuylkill River. The island was developed as the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard. Since the late 20th century, it has been re ...

for the next five years. On 9 May 1930 she was struck from the

Naval Vessel Register The ''Naval Vessel Register'' (NVR) is the official inventory of ships and service craft in custody of or titled by the United States Navy. It contains information on ships and service craft that make up the official inventory of the Navy from t ...

and in July was sold for scrapping.

Notes

References

* * *

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:R-24 (SS-101) Ships built in Bridgeport, Connecticut United States R-class submarines 1918 ships