USS R-11
USS R-11 , also known as "Submarine No. 88", 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-11s keel was laid down on 18 March 1918, by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 21 July 1919, sponsored by Miss Dorothy Batchelder, and commissioned on 20 August 1919.Service history
1919–1930
R-11 remained inactive at the Boston Navy Yard, with a crew of only two men, for two months, following commissioning. With the new year, 1920, she commenced training cruises along the New England coast, and in April, to Bermuda. On completion of training cruises, she returned to New London, Connecticut, whence she sailed on 31 May, for the Pacific.When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-88.
R-11 arrived at Pearl Harbor, on 4 August. Homeported there for the next ten years, she conducted operations in the Hawaiian area, searched for missing ships, including the seagoing tug, and planes; participated in tactical exercises; and engaged in fleet maneuvers.
1931–1946
On 12 December 1930, R-11 departed Pearl Harbor, for the last time, and steamed east to San Diego, California, whence she continued on through the Panama Canal, to New London. She returned to that Thames River base on 9 February 1931, and for the remainder of the decade served as a training ship primarily for the Submarine School, at New London, and occasionally for NROTC units in the southern New England area.Transferred to Key West, Florida, on 1 June 1941, R-11 continued her training ship duties throughout the remainder of her career.