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  1. #1
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Default Sinking of USS S-5

    Just finished reading the story of the sinking of USS-5 submarine in 1920.

    The sub was practicing emergency dives of the US east coast when it took on about 75 tons of water after a forward ventilator flap was left open during a dive.

    The forward part of the sub (crew quarters & battery compartment) was quickly flooded and the sub rammed into the ocean floor in 180ft deep water.

    The crew of 40 scrambled aft and closed all inter compartment hatchways leaving a few crew in the midship/control section of the ship and the remainder further aft in the engine room.

    The men in the control section attempted to float the sub by blowing the ballast tanks but that rapidly started to tip the sub upright on its nose at an angle of 60º to the sea floor.

    This sent a shower of loose stuff, bilge water and diesel, and crew flying down through each compartment to form piles 6ft deep on top of each compartment hatchway. This effectively trapped the two groups of crew into their respective compartments.

    Luckily no one was seriously injured and the crew managed to sort themselves out and attempted to open the hatchway between the control and engines rooms but the crap and water on to of the doors prevented that. Eventually they worked out a way of bleeding the water on top of the hatchway into the control room below, cleared away the junk so they could get through to the engine room.

    However, despite the high level of diesel fumes and increasing amounts of chlorine gas (generated by the batteries being under water) leaking trough from the battery compartment they did not abandon the control room because that was where they could control some air lines and a reserve compressor so a few men remained behind to man the controls

    The captain worked out the if the ship was 230ft long and they were in 180ft of water at 60º, some of the sub should be poking out of the water. However this also mean the aft escape hatch would still be under water and as soon as they opened that the sub would probably sink so they searched around for tools to see if they could cut their way out of the 3/4" thick hull in the stern of the sub.

    All they could find amongst the crap was a breast drill and a few drill bits, a hacksaw and some hammers and cold chisels. The space they had to work in the stern of the sub in was about as big as a phone booth.

    By now the remaining crew in the control compartment had to abandon it because of of increasing chlorine fumes and all the crew were starting to suffer from CO2 poisoning . After many hours work they had cut a hole about an inch wide and 4" long but it quickly became apparent that they would die of CO2 poisoning well before they could cut their way out.

    They also had no water but 3 men volunteered to go back into the control compartment and get some canned fruit from the life raft. They almost died from the Chlorine fumes but they bought back enough cans for each crew member to have half a can of fruit.

    Eventually they found an electric drill and patched it to the lighting circuit in the stern. When they turned it on it almost killed a crew member so they pulled it apart and dried it out and by holding it with rags they could minimise the shocks they were getting from it. After drilling 6, 5/6' the drill died because the voltage in the lighting circuit was not right. Then they found a ratchet drill and used that. Eventually they got the hole big enough to use a hack saw. By then several of the crew were unconscious from too much CO2 and only a few men were able to keep working the tools to cut a hole.

    When they had cut a triangular hole about 6 x 8" there were only 3 crew left who could work the tools. The rest were too weak or unconscious. During the day, through the hole, they spotted 3 ships on horizon and the 3rd one finally came close enough to take notice and this is what they saw.

    September-2-376x250.jpg

    Aft first they though it was a downed aircraft but as they got closer they could tell it was a sub. The sub crew stuck a flag out of the hole but the ships crew thought it was just a rag attached to the stern but then the sub captain stuck his arm out of the hole and waved, and the ship realised what was going on.

    The race was then on to get the men out before the sub filled up so much it would tip over, or the crew died from CO2.

    I'll continue the story if folks are interested.

  2. #2
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    Gawd, who'd be a submariner?
    Chris

  3. #3
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    Crikey Bob , don't stop now!

    Grahame

  4. #4
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    The ship that stopped was a small coastal steamer (2000 tons) while the sub was 800 tons without any water in it.
    The steamer was on its way to the knackers yard so had no gear suitable for cutting a hole and only a skeleton crew aboard.
    However the steamer crew managed to secure the sub to the steamer - quite a risky thing - and called for help on the radio.
    Meanwhile the steamer crew built a platform across the subs props so they could work safely outside the sub.

    The submariners desperately needed air and water.
    Water was easy to deliver though a hose but the steamer did not have a compressor on board so they could not deliver any air.
    Instead they dismantled an ice machine and took the compressor out of it and used it to deliver a small amount of air to the men.
    The first priority was to the unconscious crew which they we able to resuscitate.
    They had to stop the compressor every few minutes to prevent it from overheating so the compressor could not keep up with the demands of the 40 crew in that space but it managed to keep the men alive until a passing passenger ship provided a compressor.

    Eventually Navy rescue turned up in huge numbers (there were, multiple launches, 5 destroyers, two tugs and even a battle ship) and the cut a manhole in the sub using an oxy and all the men were saved.
    Because the sub was only a year old they attempted to salvage the sub and after attaching a line the sub was released from the steamer but the sub had by then taken so much water on board it tipped over and sank.
    They attempted to tow the sub with a large tug but it got nowhere.
    They think the sub was laying on its side and the elevator was digging into the sea floor.
    Then they decided to tow it with a battleship, I think it was the Illinois, and after towing it with great difficulty for a couple of miles the 2" thick steel cable snapped.
    Later they found out the sub had fallen into a hole in the sea floor.

    Salvage teams tried to raise the sub but it had suffered too much damage for their ability at the time (it was 1920) so they gave up.
    The sub is still there and is a well known dive site for experienced divers.

    The captain of the sub (His name was Cook) received a major decoration for leading the rescue activities inside the sub and went on to a stellar career in the navy and was the captain of the USS Pennsylvania battleship which was in dry dock during the Pearl Harbour air raid, the Arizona having taken its place on Battle Ship Row. The Pennsylvania was only slightly damaged and was quickly back in action.

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post
    Just finished reading the story of the sinking of USS-5 submarine in 1920.

    The sub was practicing emergency dives of the US east coast when it took on about 75 tons of water after a forward ventilator flap was left open during a dive.

    The forward part of the sub (crew quarters & battery compartment) was quickly flooded and the sub rammed into the ocean floor in 180ft deep water.

    The crew of 40 scrambled aft and closed all inter compartment hatchways leaving a few crew in the midship/control section of the ship and the remainder further aft in the engine room.

    The men in the control section attempted to float the sub by blowing the ballast tanks but that rapidly started to tip the sub upright on its nose at an angle of 60º to the sea floor.

    This sent a shower of loose stuff, bilge water and diesel, and crew flying down through each compartment to form piles 6ft deep on top of each compartment hatchway. This effectively trapped the two groups of crew into their respective compartments.

    Luckily no one was seriously injured and the crew managed to sort themselves out and attempted to open the hatchway between the control and engines rooms but the crap and water on to of the doors prevented that. Eventually they worked out a way of bleeding the water on top of the hatchway into the control room below, cleared away the junk so they could get through to the engine room.

    However, despite the high level of diesel fumes and increasing amounts of chlorine gas (generated by the batteries being under water) leaking trough from the battery compartment they did not abandon the control room because that was where they could control some air lines and a reserve compressor so a few men remained behind to man the controls

    The captain worked out the if the ship was 230ft long and they were in 180ft of water at 60º, some of the sub should be poking out of the water. However this also mean the aft escape hatch would still be under water and as soon as they opened that the sub would probably sink so they searched around for tools to see if they could cut their way out of the 3/4" thick hull in the stern of the sub.

    All they could find amongst the crap was a breast drill and a few drill bits, a hacksaw and some hammers and cold chisels. The space they had to work in the stern of the sub in was about as big as a phone booth.

    By now the remaining crew in the control compartment had to abandon it because of of increasing chlorine fumes and all the crew were starting to suffer from CO2 poisoning . After many hours work they had cut a hole about an inch wide and 4" long but it quickly became apparent that they would die of CO2 poisoning well before they could cut their way out.

    They also had no water but 3 men volunteered to go back into the control compartment and get some canned fruit from the life raft. They almost died from the Chlorine fumes but they bought back enough cans for each crew member to have half a can of fruit.

    Eventually they found an electric drill and patched it to the lighting circuit in the stern. When they turned it on it almost killed a crew member so they pulled it apart and dried it out and by holding it with rags they could minimise the shocks they were getting from it. After drilling 6, 5/6' the drill died because the voltage in the lighting circuit was not right. Then they found a ratchet drill and used that. Eventually they got the hole big enough to use a hack saw. By then several of the crew were unconscious from too much CO2 and only a few men were able to keep working the tools to cut a hole.

    When they had cut a triangular hole about 6 x 8" there were only 3 crew left who could work the tools. The rest were too weak or unconscious. During the day, through the hole, they spotted 3 ships on horizon and the 3rd one finally came close enough to take notice and this is what they saw.

    September-2-376x250.jpg

    Aft first they though it was a downed aircraft but as they got closer they could tell it was a sub. The sub crew stuck a flag out of the hole but the ships crew thought it was just a rag attached to the stern but then the sub captain stuck his arm out of the hole and waved, and the ship realised what was going on.

    The race was then on to get the men out before the sub filled up so much it would tip over, or the crew died from CO2.

    I'll continue the story if folks are interested.
    Keep going!

    Sent from my SM-G900I using Tapatalk
    Girl, I don't wanna know about your mild-mannered alter ego or anything like that." I mean, you tell me you're, uh, super-mega-ultra-lightning babe? That's all right with me. I'm good. I'm good.

  6. #6
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Quote Originally Posted by simonl View Post
    Keep going!
    See post #4

  7. #7
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    A couple of other really good rescue books I would recommend are;

    ADAK by A. Jampoler, The rescue of the crew of a downed P-3 Orion in 1978. The plane was fitted out with all manner of listening gear to track Soviet ship and plan movement of teh Kamchatka Peninsula. Ironically they are rescued by a Russian fishing boat.

    Frozen in time by Michael Zuckoff, the story of the recent location of one of many 1940's US airforce cashes on the Greenland icecap. This one is really good.

  8. #8
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    You want to read a good yarn, read about Sir Hubert Wilkins, born in South Oz, had an idea to sail a sub under the north pole, read about his visual reckoning while flying in a snow storm to the nth pole, an absolute hard man in harsh conditions.

    DD

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by BobL View Post


    I'll continue the story if folks are interested.
    You're lucky you did continue!!!

    Glad they all got out.

  10. #10
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    I read an account of a Russian sub that had a fire underwater, at sea. Many of the crew perished, but some were able to lock themselves in a compartment.
    They did not expect to survive.
    For a number of days they felt the sub being tossed about on the surface.
    Then, all sorts of noise coming from outside. The hatch was opened. They had been towed back to base without knowing it.

    Jordan

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