USS Squalus Submarine Disaster
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ส.ค. 2022
- As the newly-commissioned USS Squalus submarine was sunk 240 feet below the waters near the New Hampshire and Maine coast after a test run, 33 US Navy sailors and enlisted men only had hours before the oxygen ran out.
The rescuers had never succeeded in retrieving any survivors below 20 feet, and hundreds of men had been lost in submarine accidents from 1910 to 1939.
So when a team of elite diving rescuers rushed to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on May 24, 1939, the world closely followed the unit's progress on the radio.
At 10:15am, Boatswain's Mate Martin Sibitsky put on 200 pounds of diving gear, including a 40-pound ballast around his waist, and dove into the ocean.
Throughout the day, the team attempted the most incredible and complex submarine rescue in history, using state-of-the-art technology.
As thousands of people anxiously waited for the best possible outcome, the US Navy's Experimental Diving Unit raced against time, the weather, the darkness, and their own fears…
I was onboard the USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN 636) when that submarine struck bottom in March, 1986. Fortunately, the emergency ballast system worked and brought the severely damaged sub to the surface. I later worked on US Navy submarine rescue systems at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard with some of the best engineers in the field.
A brave man indeed.
Go Navy !!!
USS San Francisco, SSN-711. I knew some of the crew.
@@WootTootZoot 711 was a bad one. High speed collision The bow was severely expanded in diameter. I saw the pics at NAVSEA. The shipyard did some amazing work to repair it.
Wow 🫡🫡 that's awesome
Experimental Diving Unit, now that's a special breed of men!
Thank you for your service!
Monson was also the man that came up with mixed gas diving. Helium and Oxygen to dive deeper.
Thank you, I had not known that.
Momsen.
@@philipethier9136 I always get it wrong. Sen is Danish usually. They called hum Swede.
I had the pleasure and honor of living next to one of the Squalus survivors named Carlton Powell in Lompoc CA years ago. He told my family his story several times about being on the sub and how they were saved when the bell was sent down. Absolutely horrifying story….Rest In Peace
Mr. Powell….we sure loved you. ❤️
I still have my dad's copy of "Blow All Ballast!" by Nat A. Barrows. It is a great story and the sub, after being raised was rehabbed and renamed it the Sailfish. The conning tower of the Sailfish is now a memorial at Portsmouth Naval Ship Yard.
There was an attempt to preserve the whole boat. Too bad that didn’t succeed, she would’ve been the only pre-war Allied submarine preserved.
This was a great story. The narrator didn't mention that after the war, the bridge of the Squalus/Sailfish is still around, as a memorial.
It is at the Portsmouth Navy Yard where she was originally built. I have driven past it many times.
The father of a high school friend Last name, Robson, was a diver on the salvage crew. because of my interest I got to read a report on the salvage and the cause was a wrench between the lid and seat of the main induction valve causing it not to close completely. The salvage story is a great read in itself!
Thank you! I was wondering about the cause.
“There’s always a ‘wrench’ in the works..” Anonymous
So it was entirely the operators fault…
A friend from my hometown church named John Good served on the Sailfish and wrote a small book , more like a diary of his service on the Sailfish. Have to read a little between the lines but the action they saw was incredible. He served the engine room near the infamous manual back up wheel for the vent valves that failed when she was the Squalus. The wheel had been moved during her refit out of the water flow which is what caused the sinking, originally the backup had been located right in the
path of the on rushing water
and no way it could be used to close the valve when the
electrical assisted system failed.
Two books were written about this incident: " Blow All Ballast" and "The Desperate Hours"...
The Squalus and Sculpin shared a dark fate in the Pacific too. The Sculpin was sunk and her crew captured. While onboard a Japanese prison ship, the Sailfish torpedoed that same prison ship. More of the Sculpin crew died in the second sinking.
I read that story when I was a kid, and am shocked this video didn't mention it!
@@MrChopsticktech That most certainly should be a story for another day, ....as for now, this was about it's near fatal desperate moment and resurrection, ..for how I see it. Perhaps he should of made it a (2) part documentary to cover both?
Excellent!! You obviously know your history as what you said is absolutely true.
@@MrSuzuki1187 I should hope so, I used that story for my history and honors of the submarine force checkout to qualify as an enlisted submarine warfare specialist. (My dolphins pin)
@@darkhorse989 You are one in a million! And to wear the dolphin pin is quite an honor. I am a WW ll historian and have studied the US Navy's submarine war extensively, so I already knew that story. Back in the 1980s or so I was reading Dick O'Kane's book Clear the Deck when I read of where the Tang got trapped on the surface during a typhoon. I could not understand why they didn't just submerge, so I found his phone number and called him to get the answer. He was gracious enough to give me about 30 minutes of his time and answered my question. He told me that once the boat rolls beyond a certain angle, submerging could cause it to roll inverted. He then said he was sorry for not explaining that in his book. I have also spoken on the phone to both Paul Tibbets and Chuck Sweeny who flew Bock's Car over Nagasaki.
That has got to be torture being captured by the enemy on open water knowing that one or more of your own submariner's are out there ready to torpedo anything that floats.
Probably the most sacred story told in Sub School
Thanks for the story. My cousin at that time was the commodore of the squadron that the Squalus belonged, In 1968 I was ordered to duty with the DSRV or Deep Submergence Rescue vehicle. Never did serve in that duty but I did learn much about it. It was the direct descendent of the original Munson diving bell. The first one had a stated max dive depth of 3500 feet and the second 5000 feet depth. Those max dive depth was more then the operating depth of most subs. If you ever saw the movie Red October you saw a DSRV in action.
The Thresher never made it that deep. Most accounts say it made it to about 1200 feet before it imploded; and no other sub has ever been that deep.
@@TehButterflyEffect The DSRV's were a special project. Stated depths were a max of 3500 feet and the ones after were with a max dive depth of 5000 feet. The two nuclear subs that sunk were the Thresher and the Scorpion. they were subs not deep submergence vehicles. The First Deep Submergence Vehicle was the Bathyscaph Trieste and the later reworked one The Trieste. Max dive depth on them were 20,000 feet. and the Trieste that went dove the Mariana's trench had a special Sphere that did go to 35,000 feet. the Average Abysmal depth of the ocean is 12,000 feet. The DSRV's according to sum were a plan to get a research vehicle from the Congress funding. Consider most subs would never survive to the max depths of the DSV's. If a sub sank either on the Contental Shelf at a max depth of 1000 feet or the average depth of the ocean of 12,000 feet (would not survive, I.E. no rescue or on a Guyott peak in the ocean. I worked with DSV's for 4 years and went on the Scorpion Operation phase II. I never said the DSRV's were normal subs.
I have read the book ‘The Terrible Hours’ by Peter Maas. Brilliant read, especially following the life story of ‘Swede’ Momsen. His is a truly inspirational story, to keep proceeding with his vision of rescuing submariners despite much negativity from his Naval superiors. I honestly believe this story should be told to schoolchildren, to keep persevering in the face of opposition if you truly believe something is worthwhile.
As a point of interest, I’m from Australia, that’s how far the impact of this story has reached.
Unfortunately, the schoolchildren are taught they can identify as a submarine instead of learning about history.
Ten years ago your comment would have given me a chuckle. That is no longer the case today--sadly, what you said is not that far from current reality.@@TronBons
As an old Sailor and Radarman I really enjoy The Dark Seas Channel and this video was excellent, as usual, and the Narrator makes it Outstanding each and every time he does his thing telling the story of what these brave men went through. Thanks so much~! ☮
There was a Peruvian sub that was sunk while arriving at port, I think happened in the 80’s, and it was a USA made submarine named Pacocha. Can you do a video about this incident? Thank you
My wife’s uncle Elmer Felts, was a salvage Diver on the recovery,
I'm really happy, as a former US Navy Sailor, to hear about the Congressional gratitude paid to these men upon the successful retrieval of the surviving sailor's aboard ship. As a former sailor, and now a father, I cant imagine a fate worse than burried at sea. As the father of a sailor or a sailor him/herself. Well done to the rescue crew. Even tho this all happened nearly a century ago lol
Even as a mere civilian, this was a truly heartening experience for me, too.
I'm ok with the idea of being buried at sea. I'd really rather like it to be after I'm dead though.
I'm so glad I found this channel 🙌
That one dude who shouted about there being no napkins sounds like a pretty awesome guy🤣 it's also insane how the sub spent 4 months underwater then was raised again to surve again like wow
Just brilliant as usual! Great footage, fascinating topic, and that great commentary!! Thank you! 👍🏽🇦🇺
Any submarine sinking is a tragedy, irrespective of the navy involved. I feel that submariners most probably feel this way. Every moment of life aboard a submarine at depth is a challenge against death itself, and death will not be cheated permanently.
🙏😢⚓
As a submariner, I couldn't have said it better myself. We're such a niche group, that even hearing a sub sinking from a rival nation hits close to home.
As a former tin can man I've always respected the men that was in the submarine service.
Growing up watching a lot of those old war movies at the drive-in gave me great respect for these men! Bravest of the brave.
@@Boatperson Damn right, a breed apart. Those that I have known, always had extra respect from the surface navy.
a friend of mine his father served on the sailfish. im going to forward this to him
Growing up in Portsmouth NH, submarines after the reason I wasn't a sea going sailor. My grandmother worked at the shipyard installing radar during World War 2. Went to school with a couple kids with no Father due to submarine accidents
The best documentary I`ve ever seen on the Squalus .
A fascinating story of brave men. Thanks for sharing.
Not all heroes wear capes!👍
I did not know about this.. What a story. Amazing
What a awesome rescue and story
Wonderfully done video! I'm rather impressed that they had the technology back then to rescue those guys. A lot of sailors and their descendants have Momsen's brilliance and foresightedness to thank.
Enjoyed your video and I gave it a Thumbs Up
USS Sculpin that stood by Squalus was sunk in late WWII. 21 survivors were transported to Japan on the Japanese carrier Chuyo. The carrier was sunk by USS Sailfish, formerly Squalus. Only one man survived. The Sailfish had no idea POWs were on the carrier.
Though it sounds dark, those men were most likely better off dying on the carrier. The Japanese were monsters to POWs.
"Squalus" slipped out of her cables at least once and fell back to the ocean floor before being successfully recovered. Of the 26 sailors locked in the engine room, the remains of 25 were recovered. Nobody has ever been able to account for the 26th man. Just an after thought; while both "Squalus" and "Thresher" hailed from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, "Squalus" sank at 240 feet, on the continental shelf. "Thresher" went down in approximately 10,000 feet on the continental slope. "Sailfish's" conning tower is displayed inside the gates of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to honor the recovery and the lost sailors.
I have a hard time with the 26th man.
If they were sealed in, how the hell he get out?!
The legend of the 26th man on squalus continues.. some say he was a time traveler that wanted to sink an old WW2 sub..
@@soldierski1669 Imagine how hard it was for him!
@@PRR5406 I imagine it was over for him quick enough.
Only thing that comes to mind is he somehow got out the rear torpedo tube.
The S-5 was also built in Portsmouth, and sunk...twice, in 1920. Luckily for all parties concerned, they were able to save the entire crew.
Great videos man
Why dont you just get a fucking room with him then
Amazing story, Thank you
Totally old school. Outstanding !!!
The ship's bell of the USS Squalus resides at the Annapolis Fleet Reserve Association clubhouse.
It is rung monthly for Navy and Coast Guard veterans who have recently passed away and annually in an homage to the Squalus crew.
The bell was recovered by a Navy diver and donated to the FRA.
OK, the problem with the main induction was:
It pushed from INSIDE to OUTSIDE against the valve seat, which meant that sea pressure had to be held BACK.
THIS WAS THE FLAW.
Instead, the valve should have been OUTSIDE the valve seat, which would have used the natural sea pressure to seat the valve even firmer against the valve seat.
When it failed, it failed COMPLETELY. This was covered in a book (THE TERRIBLE HOURS) about the sinking and it's causes.
READ IT.
Excellent story!
Beautiful story. I never heard of this one, thnx.
Amazing story. Thanks.
Man !!
Me and my neighbour are addicted to all your channels !!
Thankyou for the consistency of great content
thats really weird.
sure
Woooow, what an amazing story!
This was cool to hear about in more detail. I live in Rochester, NH, about 20 minutes from Portsmouth, NH, and I’ve heard of this briefly due to my dad being in the military and Portsmouth having a pretty prominent ship yard given its location on the coast of the northern east coast.
Thanks!
awesome video well done
I knew the story of the squalus, and the story of the sailfish bur somehow I didn’t know they were the same boat
Wow, what a cool story. I never knew this.
Thanks.
Appreciated the video so much that I watched the commercials.
Bravo Zulu.
DOUGout
If you're curious, Squalus is a genus of shark commonly known as dogfish or spurdogs. You may recall the word from the movie Jaws, when Matt Hooper was studying the remains of the girl attacked by the shark at the beginning and he misidentified the attacking shark as a Squalus instead of a Carchardon. US subs used to be named after fish and other sea creatures.
And to a certain extent, some still are named after sea creatures. USS Seawolf, (SSN-21) is pretty obvious, but in 2020 the SECNAV announced that three Block V Virginia class subs will be named USS Barb (SSN-804), USS Tang (SSN-805) and USS Wahoo (SSN-806). This will be the third time that each of these names has been used for previous submarines.
Amazing. Those men were heroes. 👏👏👏
That’s an incredible story. G-D Bless all Navy Sailors and Marines….
It's not taking His name in vain when you are speaking directly of Him.
I have this story almost memorized. I've always had a fascination for stories of submarine sinking. My Great-Uncle George survived the sinking of the USS Cochino in the early days of the Cold War. He never spoke of the incident. I'd love to know more about it. I've head the official story, but it rather unbelievable. You don't hold "training" exercises off the coast of FAR northern Norway, you do it closer to home waters. It was the subject of a book and an episode of "The Silent Service" that I found here on TH-cam.
My grandfather survived being a bombardier on B-24's. He served his required number of missions and survived, unlike most other bomber crewmen. He only ever told us two or three stories about it. He didn't like talking about details.
Man that was great that was a heck of a deal God bless them all
Wow that's amazing
USS Squalus Yikes 😬. This deserves 💯 points out of 10. 💯✨ 👏👏👏
Great video but did you change the thumbnail?
I love submarine movies. This would make a great one if it's not one already that I'm unaware of.
My 2nd ship was named after Swede Momsen. USS Momsen DDG-92.
Thanks for the awesome video! I do want to say, though as someone who used to live in seacoast NH, Piscataqua is pronounced "piss-cat-a-qua", not "pisca-taqua"
😂 I worked at the shipyard there in Kittery, Maine and have eaten lunch next to the sail of the Squalis/Sailfish many times. Having worked and lived in the area, your comment made me laugh because having heard SO many non locals having their pronunciation corrected, I lost count!
Define recovery efforts of sunken submarine. Salvaged: S-4, S-51 both were recovered, S-51 from an at that point great depth (100+ ft).
I am a American Submariner , ALL submarineres are brothers and sisters-- worldwide.
The diving bell was not a "new invention". It had existed long before.
those with knowledge of diving physiology know how groundbreaking this event was, at that time in our history. All i can say is, "God Bless Admiral Munson"; this man was a true pioneer and leader. Where would we be without men like this, and a country that encourages innovation and individual independence. The entire world and generations after him benefited from his research and action.
Momsen.
The story of the USS S-5 has a similar story. Submarine sank at an angle with the stern protruding out of the water. Sailors had to use a hand drill and cut holes through the hull to escape.
Her sail is on permanent display in the Portsmouth Naval shipyard.
Thanks for that inspiring story. We need to remember the great parts of our past to counter all the crap we hear these days.
Unfortunately the US Navy keeps making the news for accidents that could have been avoided (4 collisions in 8 months in Asia during 2018.
I heard that the Navy Yard left a 4x4 in the main induction valve...
Do a video about Laffy( Benson class destroyer)
Interesting sidenote: Some time after this, the requirements for the Medal of Honor were amended to require it only be awarded for actions taken during armed conflict with enemies of the United States. So the men who received the Medal for this rescue would have been ineligible to receive it by modern standards.
9:17 “passed cabins” under the sub?! Wouldn’t it be easier to pass cables under instead of entire cabins?!
The present day NEDU is part of the Naval Base at Panama City, Florida.
They probably ran the cable over cutting it with the runabout before a "swell" broke it.
Thank goodness this happened in 1930: If it would have happened today and required experimental technology to do the rescue, a dozen companies trying to get rich would have jumped in and not even succeed.
Incorrect.
1939
Too funny! Our river is pronounced Piss-Cat-Ah-Quaw. The diving bell and conning tower are still on display at the shipyard.
They would be pumping air into the ballast tanks, not oxygen.
There is more to this story. The Navy would not put money into this rescue program so there was untried equipment and alot more .it's a great story.
What's that synthwave soundtrack at the end?
Submariners and their sense of humor 🤣. Outstanding story of brave men.
4:16 "Before 1939, no *successful* recovery efforts of a sunken submarine past 20 feet had ever been successful." So profound! Methinks that first "successful" shouldn't have been there.
F.Y.I. In 1917, 48 submariners on the HMS K13 were rescued from a depth of 55 feet. In a eerie similarity to the Squalus event, the K13 sank off the coast of Scotland during sea trials due to a flooded engine room.
Why am I not surprised that Portsmouth shipyard screwed up another induction valve....
Passed cabins under the sub?
The Book "The Terrible Hours" by Peter Maas goes into more detail about the loss of the Squalus and it's recovery.
What an absolutely horrific name for a vessel
I couldn't handle being on a sub
ERROR........At 9:11 the narration says 'cabins' were passed under the sub. Probably
meant cables or chains.
We knew what he meant. It wouldn't be a Dark video without some oopsies.
I'm a Navy veteran and have been aboard several submarines but never stationed on one. I have a weird form of claustrophobia. I can tolerate tight spaces as long as I know I can get out. As soon as I can't get out things get a little hairy. No way I could have been a sub sailor.
Also, a little tidbit on the skipper Naquin. He was in the South Pacific at the end of WW2. Phillipines I believe. He was implicated, although I know not at what level, in the controversy surrounding the failure to report as missing/overdue for an extended period of time, the USS Indianapolis, which was torpedoed after delivering
A bomb components to Tinian.
H.J. Hansen CYN3
USN 1967-71
where the hell are the napkins ..... legendary
At 5 min and 38 seconds is that the silhouette of the sub by any chance
Did anyone get the bends?
The Squalus had a nickname of Squailfish afterwards.
Trained to use Monsun lung, and "Stinky mask" while at Sub School New London and did go through the "Ho Ho Ho" tower.
Retired E9 independent duty Corpsman, 1975-2009 SS qualified
Momsen
God bless the Silent Service.
Excellent documentary! Was there ever a root cause of the sinking explained?
When it was recovered from the sea bottom a wrench was found between the valve that closed the air intake for the Diesel engines and it’s seal so it couldn’t seal fully and allowed water into the sub.
@@compaq2441 Thank you very much!
Is this the story that is the basis for the movie with Cuba Gooding and Al Pacino? I might be mistaken , but I thought the character played by Pacino was named Mumson.
Sub-mare-in-er rather than sub-mur-een-er.
also....skway luss
Submarine-er, as pronounced in the video, is the term used by the US Navy Submarine force. (I'm a US submarine veteran)
@@luckydog9809 He used to say it, sub-mariner, I told him sub vets did not pronounce it that way. He must have read my comment. I am not a Navy vet, US Coast Guard vet. Went to school in 1964 at Groton, Ct to be a Yeoman, we could hear the diesel subs going to sea, usually in the morning. You could get a glimpse of subs being built when you passed General Dynamics Electric Boat. It was not too long after the Thresher was lost.
I’ve only heard submariners pronounce it submar-een-er
@@mahill2006 I've heard that it's because submariners don't like being perceived as below anyone else.
As a submariner I must say this. Submarines do not protect, we hunt.
You're a brave man ! I wouldn't go on a submarine in the open ocean for Elon Musks fortune.
@@j.robertsergertson4513 Thanks man, the best and worst time of my life did 3 years underwater and 1 year in shipyard. I will take mother ocean! The bonds you make are as close a brothers, and my brother is still a submarine officer now of 15 years.
For year I worked at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey CA in an 2nd floor break room there pictures. Two of they were subs. Those two picture were of the Threasher and the Scorpion. The two nuc subs that had sunk. I thought it Ironic of the chose of those 2 picturer s.
I stayed afloat. Didn't think I wanted to be a part of anything that sunk on purpose.
This is why I joined the Air Force.
Man I need the music that's used lol
I'm not knowledgeable on such things and was wondering why the rescued sailors didn't have to decompress on their trips to the surface. Was it because the pressure was relatively equal in the sub, the diving bell, and the surface?? Thanks!
The sailors were not exposed to the water pressure at any time, as they were always protected within a steel structure (the submarine, then the rescue bell).