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USS SC-20

US WW1 submarine chaser

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMar 5, 2026
Entity authorityQ7873663
Source-derived summary

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. 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.

Photo gallery of USS SC-20 at NavSource Naval History

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.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “USS SC-20” as uS WW1 submarine chaser. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA dependable orientation record for establishing vocabulary, names and a first evidence trail. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1920, 1917, 2006—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where SC-20, submarine and chaser can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as uS WW1 submarine chaser. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 5, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7873663. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1920, 1917 and 2006.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “USS SC-20”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow USS SC-20 primary sources, USS SC-20 archive and SC-20 research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “USS SC-20”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from USS SC-20” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.