S-5 SUBMARINE SURVIVOR
DESCRIBES FIGHT FOR LIFE
In the fall of 1920 a U. S.
Navy S-5 submarine meet with a disaster off Cape Henlopen while on a
4 hour, full power,
practice run, calling for a “crash dive” at the end. During the
dive, an intake
valve failed and the S-5
sank with the bow down and full of water. After the sinking there
was a 35
hour bout with death, 150
feet under sea before rescue.
First class machinist mate,
Frank Pendle, and another survivor, George Bradbury Conklin, tell
of the
struggle, first hand.
Pendle was on watch in the
engine room, the practice run ending and they were on their way to
Baltimore after starting
the trip at Boston, when he felt the sub hit bottom. He had started
aft to turn
on the pump to remove the
water from the bilges, and as he was going aft the stern rose
rapidly, and
everything went scooting
forward. I found that only one pump was able to operate.
The master, Lt. Commander
Cooke and other officers and some of the crew were stuck in the
control room by water
backed up against the door and this did not allow that door to be
opened.
A suction pump was put in
operation to remove enough waster so that the door could be opened
and
allow them to escape.
By this time the salt water
had sloshed around the battery compatment and caused a bit of
chlorine gas
to escape but not enough to
do real harm. Some of the crew put on their gas masks' but it was
hard
to breathe be cause the
air supply had been cut off.
After everyone had settled
down a bit we could hear water lapping against the stern. That was a
good
sound since it ment we were
part the way out of the water. The captain sent a crew member to the
tiller compartment away up
aft to make a hole in the 5/8 inch metal large enough to get a hand
out of
so we could get a flag out
to signal for help. This hole was made with a hand drill as the
electric drill
did not work. Being it was
hard to breathe the whole crew had to take turns doing the drilling.
After
sometime the hole was made
large enough so a pipe with a flag attached could be waved outside.
Also
we ccould see outside and
there 300 years away was a ship but she dod not see us and soon was
out
of sight. We continued
to wave the flag, which was a crew members “t” shirt on a copper
pole and
soon a ship only 200 yards
of us heard the shouts of the captain, saw the flag, and came in
close.
This was the Alanthus which
stood by tooting her whistle every minute or so, aand some of her
crew
came aboard our stern made
the small hole big so a rpe sling could take us out. Pendel was the
first
man out. Every one of the
crew was in pretty good shape after we received air and water from
the
rescue ship, not delirious
as the story was told.
Captain Cooke was the hero
here, holding us together through the hours of hell. The Baltimore
Evening Sun carried the
news that the entire crew had been saved.
Source: Baltimore Sun, 6
September 1920. Abstract by Harrison H, Novemebr 25, 2017.
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