USS R - 6 ( SS - 83 ) USS " R - 6 " ( SS - 83 ) was an " R " - class coastal and harbor defense submarine of the United States Navy . Her keel was laid down on 17 December 1917 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company , Quincy , Massachusetts . She was launched on 1 March 1919 sponsored by Ms . Katherine Langdon Hill , and commissioned at Boston , Massachusetts on 1 May 1919 , with Lieutenant Commander Charles Milford Elder in command . 1919 - 1931 . After fitting out at Boston , " R - 6 " reported to Submarine Division 9 ( SubDiv 9 ) of the Atlantic Fleet at New London , Connecticut on 16 September 1919 . In early December , while anchored alongside the submarine tender and five other submarines , she was swept away by a gale and grounded on " Black Rock " at the entrance to the harbor at New London . Once aground , she radioed for help and two minesweepers tried to pull her off the rocks , but to no avail . She was later freed and returned to service . " R - 6 " got underway on 4 December 1919 for Norfolk , Virginia , and winter exercises with her division in the Gulf of Mexico from 21 January - 14 April 1920 . She returned to New London on 18 May for four months of summer maneuvers , before sailing on 13 September for Norfolk and overhaul . With SubDiv 9 , " R - 6 " , given hull classification symbol " SS - 83 " in July 1920 , was ordered to the Pacific on 11 April 1921 ; transited the Panama Canal on 28 May ; and arrived on 30 June at her new base , San Pedro , California . Due to a malfunction in one of her torpedo tube s , she sank in San Pedro Harbor on 26 September , but was refloated on 13 October by and . From 26 February - 2 March 1923 , " R - 6 " was used by Twentieth Century - Fox in making the motion picture , " The Eleventh Hour " . " R - 6 " was transferred on 16 July to Hawaii where she remained for the next eight years engaged in training and operations with fleet units . " R - 6 " was recalled to the Atlantic on 12 December 1930 , transited the Panama Canal on 18 January 1931 , and arrived on 9 February at Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , where she decommissioned on 4 May . 1940 – 1946 . Upon recommissioning at New London on 15 November 1940 , " R - 6 " was assigned to SubDiv 42 and departed on 10 December for the submarine base at Coco Solo , Panama Canal Zone , where she remained until 16 June 1941 . She was transferred to SubDiv 31 at Saint Thomas , United States Virgin Islands , on 22 June and operated out of there until returning to New London on 8 October for a refit . The submarine next joined the anti - U - boat patrol operating roughly on a line between Nantucket , Massachusetts and Bermuda . Through 1942 , she rotated between New London and Bermuda , conducting submerged periscope patrols by day and surface patrols at night to protect coastal traffic . From 1943 - mid - 1945 , she was employed primarily in training destroyer s and destroyer escort s in anti - submarine warfare . In August 1945 , she moved south to Florida and operated in the Port Everglades , Florida - Key West , Florida area . " R - 6 " decommissioned at Key West on 27 September and was struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 11 October . She was sold for scrap to Macey O . Scott , Miami , Florida in March 1946 .