USS R-18
USS R-18 , also known as "Submarine No. 95", was an R-1-class coastal and harbor defense submarines of the United States Navy commissioned shortly before the end of World War I.
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-18s keel was laid down on 16 June 1917, by the Union Iron Works, in San Francisco, California. She was launched on 8 January 1918, sponsored by Miss Marion Soley Russell, and commissioned on 11 September 1918, with future Rear Admiral, Lieutenant Commander Felix Gygax in command.Service history
1918–1931
Following shakedown, R-18 was assigned, briefly, to the Panama Canal Zone. At the end of 1918, she returned to California. She was at San Pedro, California, from January to March 1919, then underwent an overhaul at San Francisco. On 17 June 1919 she got underway for the Territory of Hawaii, and on 25 June 1919, she arrived there at Pearl Harbor. Based there for over a decade, she served with the United States Pacific Fleet, training personnel and testing new submarine equipment.When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-95.
R-18 departed Hawaii, on 12 December 1930, transited the Panama Canal, and thence continued on to the East Coast of [the United States|East Coast], for inactivation. She arrived at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, on 9 February 1931, she was decommissioned on 13 May 1931, and berthed at League Island until after the outbreak of World War II, in Europe.
1941–1946
Recommissioned on 8 January 1941, R-18 was at New London, Connecticut, for reconditioning and fitting out, into May 1941. On 12 May 1941, she got underway for the Panama Canal Zone, where she patrolled into September 1941. In October 1941, she returned to New London, underwent an overhaul, and then conducted training exercises in submarine warfare and anti-submarine warfare. In early January 1942, she shifted her training activities to the Casco Bay, Maine, area. Later in January 1942, she added patrols along a line between Nantucket Light and Bermuda, to her schedule.Originally patrolling from New London, she shifted to Bermuda in May 1942. On 30 May 1942, a US Navy OS2U-2 Kingfisher floatplane mistook her for a German U-boat and dropped a depth charge on her as she crash dived in the Atlantic Ocean bearing 50 degrees from Bermuda's Mount Hill Lighthouse. R-18 sustained no damage. In August 1942, she moved farther south, and until December 1942, operated in a training capacity in the Virgin Islands and at Trinidad.
Then assigned with other R-class submarines to training duties for the remainder of World War II, R-18 returned to New London, on 24 December 1942. She operated in the New London, and Portland, Maine, areas until June 1943. She was at Bermuda from July to December 1943. From January through March 1944, she was back in southern New England. In April 1944, she moved south for eight months at Key West, and Port Everglades, Florida.
In 1945, R-18 again began operations from New London. During the summer of 1945, she made her last voyage to Florida and back.