USS R-13
USS R-13 , also known as "Submarine No. 90", 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-13s keel was laid down by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, in Quincy, Massachusetts, on 27 March 1918. She was launched on 27 August 1919, sponsored by Miss Fanny Bemis Chandler, and commissioned on 17 October 1919.Service history
1919–1941
Following shakedown in New England waters, R-13 briefly operated out of New London, Connecticut. In the spring of 1920, she conducted training patrols off Bermuda, and then prepared for transfer to the Pacific. She departed the East Coast in mid-June; and transited the Panama Canal, in early July.When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-90.
R-13 continued up the West Coast to San Pedro, California, whence she headed for the Territory of Hawaii, on 26 August 1920.
R-13 arrived at Pearl Harbor, on 6 September 1920, and for the next nine years, assisted in the development of submarine warfare tactics. Ordered back to the Atlantic, with the new decade, the submarine stood out from Pearl Harbor on 12 December 1930, and on 9 February 1931, arrived back at New London. There, she served as a training ship until 1941.