USS R-24
USS R-24 , also known as "Submarine No. 101", was an R-21-class coastal and harbor defense submarines of the United States Navy commissioned after the end of World War I.
Design
The R-boats built by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, through, are sometimes considered a separate class, R-21-class, from those built by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company, through, and the Union Iron Works, through, R-1-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-21-class submarines had a crew of 3 officers and 23 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of.
For surface running, the boats were powered by two Busch-Sulzer diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a Diehl Manufacture Company electric motor. They could reach on the surface and underwater. On the surface, the R-21-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-21-class submarines were also armed with a single /50 caliber deck gun.
Construction
R-24s keel was laid down on 9 May 1919, by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company, of Bridgeport, Connecticut. She was launched on 21 August 1918, sponsored by Mrs. Elizabeth Norton, and commissioned on 27 June 1919, with future Rear Admiral, Lieutenant Commander Andrew Carl Bennett in command.Service history
After four months of coastal operations off southern New England, R-24 got underway for her homeport, Coco Solo, in the Panama Canal Zone, on 1 November.When the US Navy adopted its hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the hull number SS-101.
At the end of 1921, she returned to the United States 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.