The R-16 Torpedo Tube Doors. You can see that the hull narrows quite a lot at this point by the curvature of the hull frames. It can be noticed that the hull at this point is not a true circle but a vertical ellipse .

Each door has a sea pressure gauge and sight glass except for door on Number One torpedo tube. The sight glass may have been damaged and has yet to be replaced. The tubes are numbered from Right to Left and Top to Bottom; 1, 2 and 3, 4. Odd numbers on the Starboard side and even on the Port side.

The row of large wheel handles are for opening and closing the shutter doors on the outside of the bow. They are inter linked with the torpedo tube muzzle door that close off the seaward end of the torpedo tube.

The black squares in the corners are from the tabs that glued the photo into the original scrapbook.

This view in the R-16 is taken in the Forward Battery Compartment of the Submarine. This is just behind or aft of the Torpedo Room. This view is looking aft to the door into the Control Room. Lockers on the left are for the crew to put uniforms and personal items. The dark colored caged area houses the ships Gyro Compass.

The Forward Battery Compartment housed both Enlisted Crew as well as the Subs three Officers. The Starboard side, seen here is where bunks and lockers for Enlisted. The Port side, blocked off by a Canvas curtain is where the Officers had their quarters. On the right edge of the photo can be seen the end of a table with cloth over it. This table acted as a desk and eating surface for the officers.

Under the deck was one half of the ships massive storage battery. It contained 60 cells. The battery well was covered by wood planking and bolted down and then heavy canvas was shellacked down over the planks to make it water tight. Shellac gave the decks their dark green color.

This photo shows the Officers side of the Forward Battery Compartment. The rest of the table/desk can be seen with books and note books on it. Over the table hangs a portable light that could be unplugged and stored away while at sea so it wouldn't be damaged.

Two of the Officers bunks are seen on the right of the photo. There are storage lockers under the bunks. Not seen are larger cupboards and lockers for officers use. The purpose of the six canisters against the bulkhead are unknown. They could hold Soda Lime to absorb CO2 in an emergency though the containers seem a bit small for that purpose.

Battery Well ventilation blowers are seen against the bulkhead along with piping to the battery well. Used to exhaust battery gases during charging to prevent explosions.

The dark shaft seen to the left of top center, next to the valve handle, is the drive shaft for operating the bow planes

It seems the purpose of this photo is to show the Sea Water Depth Gauge over the Captains bunk.

The gauge seems to have a dual purpose. It gives readings in Sea Water in feet and Pressure in Pounds per Square Inch

In the Control Room of the USS R-16. On the forward bulkhead just to port of the ship helm, seen at upper right, was the air gauge array. These gave pressures in various banks and tanks and systems.

The surrounding gauges seems to be for monitoring the various air pressure systems; 60#, 100#, 200#, 300#. Hinted at but no photo taken, at the left top is another gauge which is possibly part of a series of gauges for the different air banks

In this close up the top row of dials shows, left to right; a gauge marked "Air Flask". The center is a barometer. On the right is a gauge marked "Air Manifold".

The center row, left to right the dials say: "Aft Trim Tank"; Sea Pressure" and "Fwd Trim Tank".

The bottom row of dials say; "Regulator"; "Auxiliary Tank"; "Aft Main Ballast" and "Fwd Main Ballast".

This manifold handles the blow for the "Auxiliary Tank" on the left, "Forward Trim" in the center and "After Trim" on the right. Printed in paint written above the label plate someone has painted the word "BLOW" probably to avoid confusion on which handles to turn.

Moving left around the compartment. The Dive Station of the USS R-16. The station is on the Port side of the Control Room. That makes the bow of the Submarine to the Right in the photo. The wheel on the right is for the Bow Planes and the one on the left is for the Stern Planes.

The Depth gauges only show 100 feet though the submarines had a test depth of 200 feet. Many Skippers complained about having no way of knowing how deep they were after the first 100 feet. Finally the Navy relented and made deeper gauges available.

Above the Stern Planes wheel is a speaking tube though where it came from or went isn't known at this time.

Continuing on our swing to the left around the Control Room of the R-16 we come to the Main Motor Field Rheostats, seen at the top of the photo, and the Engine Order Telegraphs, center and the Motor Controller Hands on the bottom.

This arrangement sits on the forward side of the bulkhead that enclosed the Radio Room. The view is looking aft. Between the Engine Order Telegraphs is a bell and on either side of that are small signs that say "PORT" and "STAR". Since the operator is facing aft the controls would be backwards so board is set up as if the operator was facing the other direction. This whole arrangement was later to be moved aft of the Engine Room and become what is later to be known as the Maneuvering Room.

Stepping around the corner from the Motor Controllers you are looking to Port and into the door of the Radio Room. It is a pretty small space maybe four feet by four feet in size.

Another view into the Radio Room showing a bit more detail of the Transmitter/Receiver.

From this view the photographer is standing almost in the center of the Control Room looking directly aft. On the right is the ladder that leads up into the Bridge Access Trunk. Behind that is the #2 Periscope. The #1 Periscope was only usable from the Conning Tower Trunk, out of the picture to the right and above. There is a third Periscope located in the After Battery Compartment.

The two large boxes on the bulkhead can also be seen in the photo showing the Motor Controllers. The man standing at a small desk is E. R. Brown Radio Electricians Mate 3/class and would have worked in the Radio Room. He would have also needed to know how to send Morse Code via Blinker Light and send and read semaphore using hand flags, combining the jobs of Radioman and Signalman into one job on a submarine. The USS R-16 was stationed at Pearl Harbor for 11 years. These subs had no air conditioning and were hot below decks hence the reason for the casual dress seen in this photo.

To the left in the photo are seen the levers for operating the Kingston Valves that are used for diving or surfacing.

Rounding on to the Starboard side of the submarine we come to the Kingston Levers. These are used to open and shut large valves in the bottoms of various tanks to let water in or out as needed.

The large sight gauges seen to the right and left of the Kingston Levers are, on the Right, for the Auxiliary Tanks (there were two of these) and the one on the Left is for the Regulator Tank. (This tank is to change its name in the future and become the Negative Tank. All were used to adjust Trim and Weight.)

The large tube in the upper left corner and extending over the top of the first three levers is the barrel for the ships Lewis Light Machine Gun that would be mounted on the bridge if needed.

The name plates on the Levers are readable for the most part. Left to Right the first 4 levers are; This one is unreadable. The second from the left is a "Port (something) Main Ballast Kingston"; The third is: "Port For'd Main Ballast Kingston" and the last is; "Stbd For'd Main Kingston".

The last 4 Kingston Levers are easier to read. Left to Right they are; "Regulator Tank Kingston"; "Auxiliary Tank Kingston"; "Port Aft Main Ballast Kingston" and "Stbd Aft Main Ballast Kingston".

The Regulator Tank handle looks to have some sort of coating to make it feel different. The Auxiliary Tank Kingston handle has been wrapped and then a Turks Head Knot applied to it so it feel different from all the rest and also painted.

This is the Water Manifold. It performed Trimming and Drain functions. Only a few names can be read on the right side name plate. The far left says; "From Bilge". The next two are unreadable. The fourth reads; "Trim Line Aft". The fifth reads; "From Duct Keel". The last is unreadable.

The large back box with the big wheel is the regulator for the pump for the trimming system.

In the upper right corner of the photo the rest of the Lewis Light Machine Gun can be seen. There were mounts on the bridge where this could be placed if it was needed for protection.

The famous WW I "Lewis Gun". Invented by American Army Colonel Isaac Newton Lewis, he couldn't get the US Military to buy the gun. Lewis resigned his commission and moved his operation to Belgium and also licensed it for manufacture in England when WW I started.

Lewis and family settled in England where he became extremely rich from license agreements for his gun. The English and Empire troops used it with much success all through WW I and WW II. After the war a few were sold to the US, mainly the Navy. There were two caliber guns. The British .303 and the American .30-06. This being a gun sold to the US Navy it was most likely the .30-06 caliber. Lewis Guns were used up through the Korean War.

Stepping through the door into the After Battery Compartment and turning back to the door for a peek back into Control. On the left can be seen the third Periscope. To the right is the Main Electrical Switch Board.

The periscope is an early Kollmorgen design. This periscope was removed from the R-Boats in 1924. It was 18 feet 10 1/2 inches in length and 6 inches in diameter. It had an 8 degree field of view at 6 power. At low power (1.25 power) it gave a 38 degree field of view.

Submarine Historian Dave Johnston provided this information: "During construction of the R-boats, a desire arose to have a third periscope. Cramming a third scope into the conning tower trunk or into the control room was just not going to work as there wasn't enough room. The existing two scopes were also fairly short and there was a desire to have a longer periscope which gave the advantage of a greater height of eye, and thus a longer visual range. The designers at Electric Boat proposed a scheme to convert an existing access trunk and hatch, used to gain access to the aft deck from the after battery compartment, into a makeshift second conning tower. The hatch at the top would be blanked off and an 18 foot periscope would be added. When fully raised the eyepiece of the scope would be at the top of the trunk, allowing the top of the scope to be considerably higher than the other two. To give the user of the periscope someplace to stand while using it, a platform was attached to the bottom of the scope by a cable, which pulled the platform up with a the scope while it was being raised. Two metal guide rods on each side of the platform kept it straight while raised and provided an additional point to secure the platform.

The designers at the USN Bureau of Construction and Repair agreed with Electric Boat and wanted the third scope installed, but Electric Boat pointed out the because the boats were already under construction making a major change like this would cause a delay in delivery of the boats. Being wartime a delay was not acceptable, so the conversion happened after the boats were delivered to the Navy and commissioned. Ultimately, the third periscope turned out to be not successful, as it tended to vibrate while being used, restricting the boat to a slow speed while it was raised. By the late 1920's the R-boats had standardized on two 27 foot periscopes and presumably the third scope in the after battery was removed and the trunk re-converted to a topside access trunk."

The curving structure under the Electrical Panel is the After Starboard Main Ballast Tank.

Amp Hour Meters for the Forward and After Batteries. The switches below are covered with a heavy cloth or leather to protect them from condensation or spray. The covering also protected the men from falling into the open switches and being electrocuted.

A different view of the Main Switch Board showing the Main Switches that had been covered in the above photo.

Submarine Historian Jim Christley has this to say about this Electrical Panel Set Up: "Starting from the top left. On the horizontal bracket. The rectangular item with 66 spots is most probably the Individual Cell Voltage plug board for one of the two batteries. There would be another plug board on the other side of the meter. There were 60 cells per battery so the plug board had some spare plugins as well as one for each end cell terminal.

To the right the two sets of light bulbs were simply an indication of the state of charge of the battery. Brighter meant higher voltage thus higher charge and lower amperage draw. Kind of a quick visual indicator. Between the sets of bulbs are two rectangular boxes with a kind of meter. These most likely are 'amp-hour' meters. They give a numerical reading of the amount of ampere hours charged into and discharged from the battery. If a particular battery had a rating of 4000 amp hours for instance it could output 4000 amps for one hour or 400 amps for 10 hours or 40 amps for 100 hours. Amperes times hours equal amp hours. Thus if the boat is running submerged at the one hour rate of 4000 amps to the motors, the amp hour meter would give an indication of how much battery capacity remained. The other option was to record the specific gravity of the electrolyte which was slower and not as accurate.

Below these are an interesting set of motor operated main power contactors. The old timers when I was first on diesel boats remarked on these. I don't remember exactly what was said but it was not, as I recall, praising their operation. Note that the electrical connections are not enclosed in any way. Not fun in a hot humid or wet situation. Plus finding a place to lean upon with the boat pitching an rolling was an interesting proposition. It was not until the early 1950's that the distribution switch gear became completely enclosed. Above the motor is a set of motor starting flat plate resisitors."

This view showing the after Port corner of the After Battery Compartment shows the Galley Stove and Sink area. On the bulkhead is the ships "Watch, Quarter and Station Bill" and also shows the Submarines name, R-16.

The WQS bill displays in one place a sailors duties for each emergency and watch condition. It also shows his administrative and operational duties. A Velvet Pipe tobacco can sits on a ledge.

A number of things are sitting on the Galley Range. What looks like a small Coffee pot, a Toaster and one more indistinct item.

We've moved one compartment aft to the Engine Room. The man at the right is E. R. Brown Radio Electricians Mate 3/class. He was seen before in the Control Room Photograph.

Seen in the foreground are the Engine Order Telegraphs above the throttle Wheels on the front of the Diesels.

The photo was taken looking aft and through the door to the Motor Room

This is a view of the front of the Starboard Diesel Engine showing the instrument cluster, the Engine Order Telegraph and throttle .

Another view looking down the Engine Room between the engines. A little better view into the Motor Room. Just beyond the lower right corner of the door you can see the top of the Low Pressure Ballast Pump.

This view is looking at the after end of the Port diesel engine looking forward.

The Motor Room. The deck seems to have been removed, possibly for maintenance work. In the foreground, to the right is the Low Pressure Ballast Pump.A ventilation duct runs down the center of the overhead and just aft of the matching curved pipes, on either side of the room are the shaft driven Air Compressors. The large electric motor just to the left of center is believed to be for the High Pressure Ballast Pump. A few pieces of the equipment seen farther aft could be the ship lathe and drill press but detail is lacking to make positive determinations.

The room appears to be a bit dirty. Perhaps due to to the maintenance work going on. Compared to the appearance of the rest of the submarine this space is pretty messy so this appearance is probably not normal.