The submarines had a length of 186feet 3inches (56.8m)overall, a beam of 18ft (5.5m), and a mean draft of 15ft 6in (4.7m). They displaced574 long tons (583t) on the surface and 685 long tons (696t) submerged. The R-1-class submarines had a crew of 2 officers and 27 enlisted men. They had a diving depth of 200ft (61.0m).[2][4]
For surface running, the boats were powered by two 440-brake-horsepower (328kW)NELSECO 6-EB-14 diesel engines, each driving one propeller shaft. When submerged each propeller was driven by a 467-horsepower (348kW)Electro-Dynamic Companyelectric motor. They could reach 12.5 knots (23.2km/h; 14.4mph) on the surface and 9.3kn (17.2km/h; 10.7mph) underwater. On the surface, the R-1-class had a range of 4,700 nautical miles (8,700km; 5,400mi) at 6.2kn (11.5km/h; 7.1mph), or 7,000nmi (13,000km; 8,100mi) if fuel was loaded into their main ballast tanks.[4]
After fitting out at the Boston Navy Yard, R-6 reported to Submarine Division 9 (SubDiv 9), of the Atlantic Fleet, at New London, Connecticut, on 16 September 1919.[5] In early December, while anchored alongside the submarine tenderCamden, and five other submarines, she was swept away by a gale and grounded on Black Rock, at the entrance to the harbor at New London. Once aground, she radioed for help and two minesweepers tried to pull her off the rocks, but to no avail. She was later freed and returned to service.[citation needed]
R-6 got underway on 4 December 1919, for Norfolk, Virginia, and winter exercises with her division in the Gulf of Mexico, from 21 January to 14 April 1920. She returned to New London, on 18 May 1920, for four months of summer maneuvers, before getting underway from New London, on 13 September 1920, for Norfolk, and overhaul.[5]
R-6 being reconditioned in dry dock, after sinking in 1921
With SubDiv 9, R-6 was ordered to the Pacific Fleet on 11 April 1921. The submarine transited the Panama Canal, on 28 May 1921, and arrived on 30 June 1921, at her new base, San Pedro Submarine Base, in San Pedro, California. Due to a malfunction in one of her torpedo tubes, she sank in San Pedro Harbor, on 26 September 1921, but was refloated on 13 October 1921, by her sister boatR-10 and the minesweeper Cardinal.[5][7]
R-6 was transferred on 16 July 1923, to the Territory of Hawaii, where she remained for the next seven-and-a-half years, engaged in training and operations with fleet units.[5]
R-6 was recalled to the Atlantic, on 12 December 1930. She transited the Panama Canal, on 18 January 1931, and arrived on 9 February 1931, at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where she decommissioned on 4 May 1931.[5]
1940–1946
Upon recommissioning at New London, on 15 November 1940, R-6 was assigned to SubDiv 42, and departed on 10 December 1941, for the submarine base at Coco Solo, in the Panama Canal Zone, where she remained until 16 June 1941. She was transferred to SubDiv 31, at Saint Thomas, in the US Virgin Islands, on 22 June 1941, and operated from there until returning to New London, on 8 October 1941, for a refit.[5]
R-6 next joined the anti-U-boat patrol, operating roughly on a line between Nantucket Island, off Massachusetts, and Bermuda. Through 1942, she rotated between New London and Bermuda, conducting submerged periscope patrols by day, and surface patrols at night, to protect coastal traffic. From 1943 to mid-1945, she was employed primarily in training destroyers and destroyer escorts in anti-submarine warfare.[5]
R-6 was involved in testing the US version of the submarine snorkel between April and August 1945. The Dutch had invented and perfected the snorkel, and they had offered the technology to the US Navy, which rejected the offer. After invading the Netherlands, in May 1940, the Germans took the technology and incorporated it into their submarines late in World War II. The US Navy took notice of the German use of the snorkel and began to research a US version. Operating from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, R-6 tested the first US-made snorkel in August 1945. There is only one known set of photographs of the installation and configuration of the snorkel aboard R-6. Upon completion of trials of the snorkel, it was removed.[9]
She decommissioned at Key West on 27September1945 and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11October1945. She was sold for scrap to Macey O. Scott, Miami, Florida, in March 1946.[5]
Mohl, Michael. "R-6 (SS-83)". Navsource.net. Retrieved 12 November 2025.
Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN0-85177-245-5.
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