USS SC-26

Submarine Chaser No. 26 around the time of her commissioning. She still mounts a Hotchkiss gun forward; it was soon replaced.
History
United States
Name	USS Submarine Chaser No. 26 (1917-1920) USS SC-26 (1920-1921)
Builder	New York Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York
Commissioned	19 October 1917
Reclassified	SC-26 on 17 July 1920
Fate	Sold 20 July 1921
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 SC-26, until July 1920 known as USS Submarine Chaser No. 26 or USS S.C. 26, was an SC-1-class submarine chaser built for the United States Navy during the First World War.

SC-26 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 19 October 1917 as USS Submarine Chaser No. 26, abbreviated at the time as USS S.C. 26.

When the U.S. Navy adopted its modern hull number system on 17 July 1920, Submarine Chaser No. 26 was classified as SC-26 and her name was shortened to USS SC-26.

On 20 July 1921, the Navy sold SC-26 to Henry A. Hitner's Sons Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Legacy

The USS SC-1-class submarine chasers, including USS SC-26, represented a significant advancement in the U.S. Navy’s approach to anti-submarine warfare. While many of these vessels had short service lives due to rapid technological advancements, their contributions laid the groundwork for future developments in naval warfare and submarine detection techniques.

See Also

• SC-1-class submarine chaser
• U.S. Navy submarine chasers in World War I
• List of United States Navy ships

References

1. U.S. Naval Historical Center records
2. Navy Department Library archives
3. Jane’s Fighting Ships of World War I

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-26
• The Subchaser Archives: The History of U.S. Submarine Chasers in the Great War Hull number: SC-26
• The Subchaser Archives: The History of U.S. Submarine Chasers in the Great War Hull: Hotchkiss and Davis Deck Guns
• 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.