USS R-26 (SS-103)

USS "R-26" (SS-103) was an "R"-class coastal and harbor defense submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down 26 April 1917 by the Lake Torpedo Boat Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut; the R-boats built by Lake Torpedo Boat (R-21 through R-27) are sometimes considered a separate class from those built by Fore River Shipbuilding (R-1 through R-14) and Union Iron Works (R-15 through R-20). She was launched on 18 June 1919 sponsored by Mrs. J. Walter Barnett, and commissioned on 23 October 1919 with Lieutenant Joseph C. Arnold in command.

Homeported at Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone, "R-26" departed New London, Connecticut, on 26 November 1919 and arrived in the Canal Zone 11 January 1920. Given hull classification symbol SS-103 in July, she spent her entire career operating out of Coco Solo. Interrupting her service in those waters only for overhauls at Balboa and on the East Coast, shereturned to the United States for inactivation in January 1925. Arriving at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on 25 January, she was decommissioned on 12 June after only five-and-a-half years of service. She was berthed at League Island until struck from the Naval Vessel Register in May 1930. Her hull was sold for scrapping in July of that year.

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