R-20 SS 97

Ship Name and Designation History

This section lists the names and designations that the ship had during its lifetime. The list is in chronological order.

R-1 Class Submarine Keel Laid 4 June 1917 - Launched 21 January 1918 USS R-20 (Submarine) Commissioned 26 October 1918 USS R-20 SS-97 Redesignated (SS) 17 July 1920 - Decommissioned 15 May 1931 Recommissioned 22 January 1941 - Decommissioned 27 September 1945 Struck from Naval Register 1 October 1945 Sold 13 March 13 1946 for scrap

 

Naval Covers

This section lists active links to the pages displaying covers associated with the ship. There should be a separate set of pages for each name of the ship (for example, Bushnell AG-32 / Sumner AGS-5 are different names for the same ship so there should be one set of pages for Bushnell and one set for Sumner). Covers should be presented in chronological order (or as best as can be determined).

Since a ship may have many covers, they may be split among many pages so it doesn't take forever for the pages to load. Each page link should be accompanied by a date range for covers on that page.

1. USS R-20 SS-97 Covers Page 1     (1927-44)

 

Postmarks

This section lists examples of the postmarks used by the ship. There should be a separate set of postmarks for each name and/or commissioning period. Within each set, the postmarks should be listed in order of their classification type. If more than one postmark has the same classification, then they should be further sorted by date of earliest known usage.

A postmark should not be included unless accompanied by a close-up image and/or an image of a cover showing that postmark. Date ranges MUST be based ONLY ON COVERS IN THE MUSEUM and are expected to change as more covers are added.
 
>>> If you have a better example for any of the postmarks, please feel free to replace the existing example.

 

Postmark Type --- Killer Bar Text	Postmark Date	Thumbnail Link To Postmark Image	Thumbnail Link To Cover Image

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1st Commissioning 26 October 1918 to 15 May 1931

 

Locy Type 3 "U.S.S.R I-20 / P H * T H"

1927-06-23

"From the early 1920's to 1931, the first twenty submarines of the R class were assigned to the Submarine Base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The mail clerk at the Submarine Base often used the wording "U.S.S. R 1-20/P.H. T.H." and similar wording in the killers of his cancel. This does not imply that the post office was located aboard any of the boats; it merely identified the boats stationed there." USCS Postmark Catalog, 5th Edition.

 

Locy Type 3 "FLAGSHIP / USS,R-20"

1931-04-29

FLAGSHIP, Submarine Division Fourteen. From the Paul Huber collection.

 

Locy Type 3 "DECOMMISSION / ED TODAY R20"

1931-05-15

"In May 1931 eleven of these submarines moved to the Philadelphia Navy Yard, where they were decommissioned and placed in reserve (the other nine boats remained active). The mail clerk of Submarine Division Fourteen, Battle Fleet produced commemorative covers for these events. The name of each submarine was given in the killer bars of the cancel. Once again, the division post office was not aboard each boat; it was located at the yard along with the staff of the division." USCS Postmark Catalog, 5th Edition. From the Paul Huber collection.

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2nd Commissioning 22 January 1941 to 27 September 1945

 

Locy Type CD-Z5

1942-06-18

N/A

Censored, Sailor's mail. From the Paul Huber collection.

 

Other Information

The ship's sponsor was Mrs. Arnold Foster.

 

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If you have images or information to add to this page, then either contact the Curator or edit this page yourself and add it. See Editing Ship Pages for detailed information on editing this page.

 

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