USS R-16

	Career

Ordered:	29 August 1916
Laid down:	26 April 1917
Launched:	15 December 1917
Commissioned:	5 August 1918
Decommissioned:	16 July 1945
Fate:	sold for scrap
Stricken:	25 July 1945
General Characteristics
Displacement:	569 tons surfaced, 680 tons submerged
Length:	186 feet 2 inches
Beam:	18 feet
Draft:	14 feet 6 inches
Propulsion:
Speed:	13.5 knots surfaced, 10.5 knots submerged
Range:
Complement:	29 officers and men
Armament:	one three-inch gun, four 21-inch torpedo tubes
Motto:

USS R-16 (SS-93) was an R-class coastal and harbor defense submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down by the Union Iron Works in San Francisco, California, on 26 April 1917. She was launched on 15 December 1917 sponsored by Mrs. Edward R. Wilson, and commissioned on 5 August 1918 with Lieutenant Commander Cecil Y. Johnston in command.

Following commissioning, R-16 proceeded to Balboa, Panama Canal Zone, whence she conducted patrols until December. Then ordered back to California, she remained on the West Coast into June 1919. On 17 June she got underway from San Francisco, California, and on 25 June, arrived at Pearl Harbor. Given hull classification symbol SS-93 in July 1920 she operated with fleet units for the next 11 years.

R-16 departed Pearl Harbor 12 December 1930 and, after transiting the Panama Canal, proceeded to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where she decommissioned 12 May 1931. In reserve for the next nine years, she recommissioned 1 July 1940 and, by the end of the year, had again assumed patrol duties in waters off Panama. Ordered back to the East Coast in the fall of 1941, she arrived at Key West, Florida, two days after the attack on Pearl Harbor. By 18 December, she was at New London, Connecticut, whence she conducted patrols and assisted in antisubmarine warfare training into February 1942. Shifted to the Virgin Islands the next month she continued her dual mission in the Caribbean Sea, operating from Saint Thomas, United States Virgin Islands, and from Trinidad until 1 March 1943 when she returned to New London. There she conducted operations for the submarine school, the sound laboratory, and for destroyer and destroyer escort training units. Between 1 August 1943 and 20 March 1944, she operated from Bermuda, then returned to New London for her last year of naval service.

R-16 departed New London for Philadelphia 4 July 1945. Arriving the following day, she was decommissioned on 16 July and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 25 July. She was sold and delivered to the North American Smelting Company, Philadelphia, in March 1946.

References