Fitted out at Boston, Massachusetts, during the fall of 1919, R-10 joined Submarine Division 9 with the new year, 1920, and departed for winter maneuvers in the Gulf of Mexico on 15 January.

Toward the end of September, she added salvage operations to her record as she assisted Cardinal (AM-6) in raising R-6 (SS-83) from the bottom of San Pedro Harbor on 13 October, then resumed individual and squadron exercises.

During the spring, she underwent overhaul at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, and in the summer added ASW destroyer training and NROTC cruises to her mission.

Through the decade she continued her role as a training submarine and operated primarily off the New England coast with occasional temporary duty at stations on the mid-Atlantic seaboard, including the Diving School at Piney Point, Maryland, in May 1937.

From 1941 until the winter of 1943, she alternated patrols in the Yucatán Channel and the Florida Straits with operations for the Fleet Sonar School at Key West.