USS R-2 (SS-79)

USS R-2 (SS-79) was an R-class coastal and harbor defense submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 16 October 1917 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 23 September 1918 sponsored by Mrs. Charles M. Cooke, and commissioned at Boston, Massachusetts, on 24 January 1919 with Lieutenant Commander Charles Maynard "Savvy"[1] Cooke, Jr., in command.

USS R-2 arriving at the Battery in New York City on 29 April 1939 during the 1939 New York World's Fair.
History
United States
Name: USS R-2
Ordered: 29 August 1916
Builder: Fore River Shipbuilding, Quincy, Massachusetts
Laid down: 16 October 1917
Launched: 23 September 1918
Commissioned: 24 January 1919
Decommissioned: 10 May 1945
Stricken: 2 June 1945
Fate: Sold for scrap, 28 September 1945
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: 30 officers and men
Armament:

Service history

After acceptance trials in Cape Cod Bay, R-2 was assigned to Submarine Division 9 of the Atlantic Fleet and based at New London, Connecticut. She sailed on 4 December 1919 for Norfolk, Virginia, and winter division maneuvers in the Gulf of Mexico. Returning to New London on 28 May, she joined R-1 and R-3 for four months of summer exercises off southern New England. Given hull classification symbol SS-79 in July, R-2 headed for Norfolk on 13 September 1920 for an overhaul.

R-2 was transferred to the Pacific fleet on 14 April 1921, transited the Panama Canal on 28 May, and arrived on 30 June at her new base, San Pedro, California. She took part in fleet exercises off Central America from 5 February to 6 April 1923. Returning to San Pedro on 10 April, R-2 was ordered to Hawaii on 16 July with Division 9 and remained for eight years developing submarine tactics with the Fleet. She made an endurance cruise to Midway Island in July and August 1924.

Leaving Pearl Harbor on 12 December 1930, R-2 was reassigned to the Atlantic fleet and arrived at New London via the Panama Canal on 9 February 1931. She was attached to Division 4 and for the next ten years served as a training ship for the Submarine School at New London and for the Yale University NROTC unit.

Assigned to Division 12 on 1 June 1941, R-2 departed New London on 16 June and six days later arrived at Key West, Florida, her new homeport. Based there for the remainder of her career, she was attached to the Fleet Sonar School, and assigned periodically to defensive patrols in keeping with her limited operational capabilities, until the spring of 1945. Then, with the approach of German capitulation, she was ordered to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for inactivation. Arriving on 1 May, she was decommissioned on 10 May, and struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 2 June. She was sold to Rosoff Brothers of New York City on 28 September 1945, resold to the Northern Metals Company of Philadelphia, the following month; and scrapped in early 1946.

References
  1. Blair, Clay, Jr. Silent Victory (Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1975), p.1017.
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