USS SC-20

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.

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
United States
Name:	USS Submarine Chaser No. 20 (1917-1920) USS SC-20 (1920)
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:	77 tons normal 85 tons full load
Length:	110 ft (34 m) overall 105 ft (32 m) between perpendiculars
Beam:	14 ft 9 in (4.50 m)
Draft:	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m) normal 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) full load
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:	1 × 3-inch (76.2 mm)/23-caliber gun mount 2 × Colt .30 caliber (7.62 mm) machine guns 1 × Y-gun depth charge projector

USS S.C. 20 at the New York Navy Yard in Brooklyn, New York, on 15 September 1917, about five weeks before her commissioning. At right are the bows of two other SC-1-class submarine chasers, both unidentified.

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.

S.C. 20 was assigned to the Third Naval District for patrol duties during World War I.

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.

Sometime in 1920, the Navy transferred SC-20 to the United States Department of War for service with the United States Army.

References

• This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.
• NavSource Online: Submarine Chaser Photo Archive: SC-20
• The Subchaser Archives: The History of U.S. Submarine Chasers in the Great War Hull number: SC-20
• Woofenden, Todd A. Hunters of the Steel Sharks: The Submarine Chasers of World War I. Bowdoinham, Maine: Signal Light Books, 2006. ISBN 978-0-9789192-0-7.