SS-192
23 MAY 1939
SS-192
A commissioning ceremony occupied the docks at New Hampshire’s Portsmouth Navy Yard on 1 March 1939. Our latest Sargo-class submarine, SQUALUS (SS-192), was entering service. Her dock trials went well, except for a problem with closure of the main induction valve high in the conning tower. This valve admitted air for the boat’s ventilation system and to run her diesel engines and had to close securely prior to diving. After a bit of work, the red light for the main induction valve in the “Christmas tree” turned green. All appeared to be ready, and on this day LT Oliver F. Naquin took his 51-man crew and three civilian contractors beyond the mouth of the Piscatagua River to attempt the sub’s first dives.
Hearing conditions rigged for diving shortly after 0800, Naquin ordered flank speed and the planes “hard a-dive!” Quickly the Christmas tree flushed from red to green and the conning tower slipped below the waves. Then came the dreaded call, “The engine room’s flooding, Sir!” Her momentum continued to carry the sub under, she reached 50 feet before the skipper could order the blowing of all main ballast tanks. The lights flickered and the dive paused only a few seconds. Then the stern sank under the weight of inrushing water. Now nearly vertical on her tail, SQUALUS began settling toward the bottom. Wrenches, crockery, boxes, loose gear, and sailors tumbled the length of the boat before watertight hatches could be set. Within five minutes of starting her dive, the submarine’s stern struck the bottom 240 feet down, and the boat settled onto the sand, upright with 11° up angle on the bows. Every space abaft of the control room was flooded and the absence of tapping indicated the 21 men trapped there were probably already drowned. Naquin sent five men forward to help distribute the weight, soda lime was spread on the decks to absorb CO2, and the LT ordered his men to stay calm to conserve oxygen. “Momsen Lungs” were passed around–newly developed breathing devices designed to assist escape from a downed sub (but also valuable in dealing with chlorine gas likely to waft from the flooded battery room). But all knew that no successful escape had yet been accomplished from this depth!
Topside, when SQUALUS failed to re-surface as expected at 0940 the alarm was sounded. The newly developed McCann Rescue Chamber aboard FALCON (ASR-2) was summoned from New London, 200 miles distant. From fathoms below, Naquin released floats every hour that, upon reaching the surface, launched red smoke flares. These guided SCULPIN (SS-191) first to the scene. Her skipper LCDR W.D. Wilkin, located SQUALUS’ marker buoy and grappled it aboard. Attached was a telephone cable, and before it shortly snapped, Naquin was able to communicate his situation and the fact that 33 remained alive.
Continued 25 May…
Department of the Navy, Naval History Division. Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships, Vol 6 “R-S”. Washington, DC: GPO, 1976, pp. 233-35.
Gray, Edwin. Disasters of the Deep: A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Disasters & Accidents. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 2003, pp. 138-53.
LaVO, Carl. Back from the Deep: The Strange Story of the Sister Subs Squalus and Sculpin. Annapolis, MD: USNI Press, 1994.
