USS R-13 (SS-90)

Career
Name: USS R-13
Ordered: 29 August 1916
Builder: Fore River Shipbuilding, Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down: 27 March 1918
Launched: 27 August 1919
Commissioned: 17 October 1919
Decommissioned: 14 September 1945
Struck: 11 October 1945
Fate: Sold for scrap, 13 March 1946
General characteristics
Type:R class submarine
Displacement:569 long tons (578 t) surfaced
680 long tons (691 t) submerged
Length:186 ft 2 in (56.74 m)
Beam:18 ft (5.5 m)
Draft:14 ft 6 in (4.42 m)
Propulsion:Diesel-electric
Speed:13.5 knots (25.0 km/h; 15.5 mph) surfaced
10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) submerged
Complement:34 officers and men
Armament:• 4 × 21 in (533 mm) torpedo tubes
• 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun

USS R-13 (SS-90) was an R-class coastal and harbor defense submarine of the United States Navy. Her 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 B. Chandler, and commissioned on 17 October 1919 with Lieutenant Commander Walter E. Boyle in command.

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, then prepared for transfer to the Pacific. She departed the East Coast in mid-June; transited the Panama Canal in early July. Given hull classification symbol SS-90 at midmonth, she continued up the west coast to San Pedro, California, whence she headed for Hawaii on 26 August.

R-13 arrived at Pearl Harbor on 6 September 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 12 December 1930 and on 9 February 1931 arrived back at New London. There, she served as a training ship until 1941. However, she was in Annapolis, Maryland on 30 June 1932.

1941–1946

On 26 May 1941, R-13 headed south to her new homeport, Key West, Florida. Arriving at the end of the month, she returned to New London in July, but was back off southern Florida in August. During the fall she conducted operations in the Gulf of Mexico, then assumed training duties for the Sound School at Key West. Through World War II, she continued the work there and out of Port Everglades, Florida, and conducted patrols in the Yucatan Channel and the Florida Straits.

With the cessation of hostilities, R-13 decommissioned 14 September 1945, was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 October 1945, and was sold 13 March 1946.

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