1939 — May 23, Submarine Squalus sinks in test dive 16 miles off Portsmouth, NH — 26

— 27 Times Herald (Olean, NY). Twenty-Seven Aboard…Submarine…Dead,” 5-24-1939, 1.
— 26 Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 409.
— 26 Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours, 1977, p. 701.
— 26 US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”

Narrative Information

Cornell: “The newest of the U.S. Navy’s submarines left the Portsmouth, New Hampshire, navy yard at 6:30 A.M., May 23, to practice high-speed, shallow ‘crash dives.’ The loss of radio contact with the sub about 10:30 A.M. prompted a search by the U.S.S. Scuplin and the discovery of a yellow radio buoy floating on the surface. Brief radio contact confirmed that the sub lay disabled in 240 feet of water. The main air-induction hatch had failed to close when the submarine dove, thus flooding the aft section and short-circuiting the power system. An electrician’s mate stationed at the bulkhead between the forward and aft sections closed the compartment, trapping 26 men. In the forward section, however, 33 other men remained alive. At 9:22 A.M. the next morning, with incredible luck, a navy diver landed on the deck of the Squalus. A diving bell attached to the forward hatch allowed the 33 men to escape during a four-hour rescue operation.” (Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). 1982, p. 409.

USN: “USS Squalus (SS-192) sank off Portsmouth NH during a test dive. 26 drowned. 23 May 1939.” (US Dept. Navy. “Casualties: US Navy…Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured…”)

Newspapers

May 23: “Portsmouth, N.H., May 23.—(AP) –Fifty-nine officers and men trapped aboard the crippled submarine Squalus under 240 feet of water, faced the prospect tonight of long hours of additional imprisonment as hurried navy rescue efforts met delays. ‘Conditions satisfactory, but cold.’ This was the message sent late tonight by the entombed men – a message tapped in patient dots and dashes on the steel hull of the sunken craft and picked up with listening devices on the surface….

“The navy threw all its might into a rescue effort. Nine ships were at or near the scene tonight and 21 diving experts were flown up from Washington. But a systematic effort to free the entombed crew apparently awaited the arrival of the submarine rescue ship Falcon. Moving under forced draft from its New London, Conn., base, the Falcon was scheduled to arrive at dawn tomorrow, and officers said several hours might elapse after that before a concerted diving effort could be made. Naval officials reported, however, that emergency supplies of oxygen should allow those on board to ‘hold on’ for days, if necessary. All those alive were given a ‘pretty good chance’ to see daylight again.”

“[Communications from] aboard the Sculpin [“Sister ship of the Squalus…anchored at the scene…”] revealed that the cable holding the buoy sent up from the Squalus had been broken and that the sunken submarine actually had been ‘lost’ for hours today. A heavy wave had thrown the Sculpin to one side while it was in telephone communication with the Squalus, breaking all lines holding the two submarines together. It was necessary to grapple for the Squalus in order to get a line aboard on which divers could descend.” (Galveston Daily (TX). “Deaths Feared on Sunken Submarine,” May 24, 1939, p. 1.)

May 24: “Portsmouth, N.H., May 24.—Navy divers went down to the bottom of the Atlantic ocean sixteen miles off shore here today and reported that twenty-seven men aboard the ill-fated submarine Squalus ‘undoubtedly were dead’ and thirty-two others alive and well. Seven of the survivors were brought 240 feet to the surface in a specially constructed diving bell used in a disaster for the first time in the history of the U.S. Navy. The twenty-five other survivors remained in the submerged craft waiting to be rescued. It was believed the bodies of the dead would be brought up last….

“First word of the fate of the twenty-seven victims was brought up by the first seven rescued at 1:26 p.m., almost twenty-eight hours after the Squalus, the newest undersea craft in the fleet, went out for a trial dive yesterday and settled to the ocean floor when a high-speed induction valve failed to close. A rush of water into several compartments of the submarine apparently was responsible for the twenty-seven fatalities, but no one could tell what caused their deaths until divers had penetrated the chambers and removed the bodies.

“Officers aboard the 10,000-ton cruiser Brooklyn, in general charge of the rescue, said the work would continue night and day until the Squalus has been raised to the surface.” (Times Herald)

Sources

Cornell, James. The Great International Disaster Book (Third Edition). New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1982.

Galveston Daily News, TX. “Deaths Feared on Sunken Submarine,” May 24, 1939, p. 1. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=45239546

Nash, Jay Robert. Darkest Hours – A Narrative Encyclopedia of Worldwide Disasters from Ancient Times to the Present. New York: Pocket Books, Wallaby, 1977, 792 pages.

Times Herald, Olean, NY. “Twenty-Seven Aboard Sunken Submarine Undoubtedly Dead,” 5-24-1939, p. 1. At: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=37712387

United States Department of the Navy. Casualties: US Navy and Marine Corps Personnel Killed and Injured in Selected Accidents and Other Incidents Not Directly the Result of Enemy Action. Washington, DC: Naval Historical Center. 2008.