SS-192 (cont.)

It had been 26 hours since SQUALUS (SS-192) slipped below the waves off New Hampshire’s coast, only to be partially flooded and sink 240 feet below.  The McCann Rescue Chamber had arrived lashed to the fantail of USS FALCON (ASR-2), and Navy diver Martin Sibitsky sat beside the chamber awaiting the securing of his round copper helmet.  He would have to dive on plain air, as the special mix of oxygen and helium recently developed at the Experimental Deep-Diving Unit was not available.  At the depth SQUALUS rested, Sibitsky risked nitrogen narcosis, not that the extreme pressure alone wasn’t enough!  But 33 men were still alive, so he had no choice.  He stepped onto his wooden lowering platform and watched the seawater swirl around his faceplate.

In order to deploy the McCann Chamber, FALCON had to be stable on the surface, oriented on the exact heading of SQUALUS below.  In the rough seas that task had taken some time during the previous day.  But now FALCON bobbed in one spot, anchors deployed in four directions.  Slowly Sibitsky coursed deeper and deeper.  At last the silhouette of the submarine came into view.  By sheer luck he landed on the sub’s main deck, only ten feet from the forward escape hatch!  He shackled the down-haul line to the hatch.

On the surface the down-haul line was secured to a winch in the rescue chamber.  TM1c John Mihalowski and GM1c Walter Harmon piled in, followed by hot drinks, sandwiches, blankets, and CO₂ absorbent.  By now the temperature inside SQUALUS had dropped to freezing and carbon dioxide in the air had risen to 3%.  At 1130 on the 24^th the 10′ X 7′ spherical chamber tasted saltwater.  The down-haul went as planned.  The chamber married correctly to the escape hatch and Mihalowski and Harmon double checked seals and blew compressed air into the entry chamber.  Mihalowski climbed to the lower chamber and spun the sub’s hatch.  Gaunt faces appeared from the darkness as the hatch was lifted.  “Hi fellas, here we are!” was Mihalowski’s first comment.

At 1342 the first seven of SQUALUS’ sailors reached the surface.  Three more times the device was lowered until only Naquin and the last seven crewmen were loaded.  About 2014 the final up-haul began.  But the chamber rose only a few feet before a fouled line jerked it to a stop.  Metalsmith First Class Edward Clayton made a second hardhat dive and struggled for hours to free the haul line.  He was successful, and at 0023 this morning the chamber broke the surface for the last time.  All 33 who survived SQUALUS’ sinking were rescued, it was the first successful rescue from that depth.  Naquin had spent 36 hours in a downed sub and an additional four hours and nine minutes in a snagged chamber.

Watch for more “Today in Naval History”  1 JUN 26

CAPT James Bloom, Ret.

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.

ADDITIONAL NOTES:  In the elation that followed this first rescue, observers overlooked essential contributing factors–the chamber was only 200 miles distant at the time of the sinking, and Squalus settled upright–an absolute requirement for the chamber to work.

After a trying 113-day effort the wreck of SQUALUS was raised and towed back to the yards in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  She was repaired and recommissioned, this time under the name SAILFISH (SS-192).  She fought throughout WWII in the Pacific, being awarded nine Battle Stars and the Presidential Unit Citation for her combat service.  She was sold for scrap in 1948.

The post SS-192 (cont.) appeared first on Today in Naval History.

                                                         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.

The post SS-192 appeared first on Today in Naval History.