USS R-10
USS R-10 , also known as "Submarine No. 87", was an R-1-class coastal and harbor defense submarines of the United States Navy commissioned after the end of World War I.
Due to space constraints, the boats built at the Fore River Shipbuilding Company yard, were laid down much later than the boats built at the Union Iron Works and the Lake Torpedo Boat Company yards. Because of this, none were commissioned before the end of WWI.
Design
The R-boats built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, through, and the Union Iron Works, through, are sometimes considered a separate class, R-1-class, from those built by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, through, R-21-class.The submarines had a length of overall, a beam of, and a mean draft of. They displaced on the surface and submerged. The R-1-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 27 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of.
For surface running, the boats were powered by two NELSECO 6-EB-14 diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a Electro-Dynamic Company electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the R-1-class had a range of at, or if fuel was loaded into their main ballast tanks.
The boats were armed with four [American 21-inch torpedo|] torpedo tubes in the bow. They carried four reloads, for a total of eight torpedoes. The R-1-class submarines were also armed with a single /50 caliber deck gun.
Construction
R-10s keel was laid down on 21 March 1918, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 28 June 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Mary Ransom, and commissioned on 20 August 1919.Service history
1919–1930
R-10 fitted out at the Boston Navy Yard, during the fall of 1919, she joined Submarine Division 9, with the new year, 1920, and departed for winter maneuvers in the Gulf of Mexico, on 15 January. Based at Pensacola, Florida, she completed final trials during March, and in mid-April, returned to New England. On 18 May 1920, she arrived at Newport, Rhode Island.When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-87.
R-10 operated out of Newport, and New London, Connecticut. With the fall she proceeded south again, underwent overhaul at Norfolk, Virginia, remaining until April 1921. She then headed for the Panama Canal, and duty in the Pacific.
R-10 arrived at San Pedro, California, on 30 June, for a two-year tour. Toward the end of September, she added salvage operations to her record as she assisted the minesweeper, in raising R-10s sister boat, from the bottom of San Pedro Harbor, on 13 October, then resumed individual and squadron exercises.
In July 1923, R-10 shifted to Pearl Harbor, where for the next seven and a half years she conducted training operations, including fleet problems, made occasional runs as far west as Midway Island, and as far east as the West Coast, and participated in air-sea rescue operations for planes initiating transpacific air travel. Ordered back to the Atlantic, in 1930, R-10 cleared Pearl Harbor, for the last time, on 12 December.