 An early photograph of USS S.C. 20, probably around the time of her commissioning in 1917. She carries her original armament, including a Hotchkiss gun forward and a Davis gun amidships, both of which later would be replaced. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Name: |
|
| Builder: | New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York |
| Commissioned: | 18 October 1917 |
| Reclassified: | SC-20 on 17 July 1920 |
| Fate: | Transferred to United States Department of War 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | SC-1-class submarine chaser |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: |
|
| Beam: | 14 ft 9 in (4.50 m) |
| Draft: |
|
| Propulsion: | Three 220 bhp (160 kW) Standard Motor Construction Company six-cylinder gasoline engines, three shafts, 2,400 US gallons (9,100 L) of gasoline; one Standard Motor Construction Company two-cylinder gasoline-powered auxiliary engine |
| Speed: | 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Range: | 1,000 nautical miles (1,900 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h) |
| Complement: | 27 (2 officers, 25 enlisted men) |
| Sensors and processing systems: | One Submarine Signal Company S.C. C Tube, M.B. Tube, or K Tube hydrophone |
| Armament: |
|
USS SC-20, until July 1920 known as USS Submarine Chaser No. 20 or USS S.C. 20, was an SC-1-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during World War I.
A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel that is specifically intended for anti-submarine warfare. Many of the American submarine chasers used in World War I found their way to Allied nations by way of Lend-Lease in World War II.
The United States Navy (USN) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone, it is larger than the next 13 navies combined, which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations. with the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world's largest aircraft carrier fleet, with eleven in service, and two new carriers under construction. With 319,421 personnel on active duty and 99,616 in the Ready Reserve, the Navy is the third largest of the service branches. It has 282 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of March 2018, making it the second-largest air force in the world, after the United States Air Force.
World War I, also known as the First World War or the Great War, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilisation of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history. It is also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war, while resulting genocides and the 1918 influenza pandemic caused another 50 to 100 million deaths worldwide.
SC-17 was a wooden-hulled 110-foot (34 m) submarine chaser built at the New York Navy Yard at Brooklyn, New York. She was commissioned on 18 October 1917 as USS Submarine Chaser No. 20, abbreviated at the time as USS S.C. 20.
A hull is the watertight body of a ship or boat. The hull may open at the top, or it may be fully or partially covered with a deck. Atop the deck may be a deckhouse and other superstructures, such as a funnel, derrick, or mast. The line where the hull meets the water surface is called the waterline.
New York, officially the State of New York, is a state in the Northeastern United States. New York was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that formed the United States. With an estimated 19.54 million residents in 2018, it is the fourth most populous state. To distinguish the state from the city in the state with the same name, it is sometimes called New York State.
Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service, and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to the placing of a warship in active duty with its country's military forces. The ceremonies involved are often rooted in centuries old naval tradition.
S.C. 20 was assigned to the Third Naval District for patrol duties during World War I.
 | This section needs expansionwith: SC-20's operational history from October 1917 to 1920. You can help by adding to it.(February 2011) |
When the U.S. Navy adopted its modern hull number system on 17 July 1920, Submarine Chaser No. 20 was classified as SC-20 and her name was shortened to USS SC-20.
The United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) use a hull classification symbol to identify their ships by type and by individual ship within a type. The system is analogous to the pennant number system that the Royal Navy and other European and Commonwealth navies use.
Sometime in 1920, the Navy transferred SC-20 to the United States Department of War for service with the United States Army.
The United States Department of War, also called the War Department, was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, also bearing responsibility for naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798, and for most land-based air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947.
The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution. As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence, the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army, which was formed to fight the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783)—before the United States of America was established as a country. After the Revolutionary War, the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army. The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army, and dates its institutional inception from the origin of that armed force in 1775.
