АҚШ Суасты Кемесі USS S-5-тің Тағдыры

Submarine of the United States

USS S 5 (SS 110) was a "Government type" S class submarine of the United States Navy. Her keel was laid down on 4 December 1917 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard of Kittery, Maine. She was launched on 10 November 1919, sponsored by Mrs. Glenn S. Burrell, and commissioned on 6 March 1920 with Lieutenant Commander Charles M. "Savvy" Cooke, Jr., in command. She sank accidentally during full power trials on 1 September 1920, but due to actions by her crew and the crews of other ships, there were no deaths. Refloated, she was lost when she sank again while under tow on 3 September 1920.

Following builder's trials, outfitting, and crew training, S 5 departed Boston Navy Yard, Boston, Massachusetts, on 30 August 1920 to undergo full power trials in the Atlantic Ocean off the Delaware Capes. At 13:00 on 1 September, she commenced a dive for a submerged test run. Water unexpectedly entered the submarine through the main air induction system, pouring into the control room, engine room, torpedo room, and motor room. Normal procedure was to leave the main air induction valve open until the engines had a chance to come to a full stop, this operation being so timed as to occur just prior to complete submergence. In the case of S 5, however, the chief of the boat, Gunner's Mate Percy Fox, the man responsible for operating this valve, was momentarily distracted. Noticing the mistake, he grabbed the valve lever and jerked hard, causing the valve to jam open. The crew reasoned that sufficient buoyancy in the after section could tilt the sub on her nose and extend the stern above the surface. The tilt would cause the water in the motor room to drain forward and increase buoyancy further. However, there was great risk involved because this would allow salt water into the battery room, which would generate deadly chlorine gas. They hoped to have enough time, after the water had entered, to close the watertight door before the gas could reach a dangerous level. After making preparations, air was applied to the after ballast and fuel tanks, blowing them dry. The stern began to rise and then shot to the surface. Men, floor plates, bilge water, and other loose objects fell through the length of the submarine. One man nearly drowned in the battery room, but was fished out, and the compartment door was sealed against the gas. By tapping on the hull, it was determined that the stern extended about 17 feet (5 m) above the water. With inadequate tools, they took turns trying to cut a hole in the thick hull. After 36 hours, they had only succeeded in making a hole in diameter.

The exact location of the wreck of S 5 remained unknown until July 2001, when the Office of Ocean Exploration at the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) asked the NOAA survey ship NOAAS Whiting to search for it. Whiting, which had just completed a summer in port at Norfolk, Virginia, and was bound for Boston, Massachusetts, to conduct hydrographic survey operations in New England, paused off Cape May in late July 2001 to search for the wreck. Whitings survey department approached the project as it would any typical hydrographic survey. Information on snags – obstructions on the ocean bottom that snarl fishing nets and gear – that local recreational fishermen had reported and reports of possible locations of the wreck from divers that had visited it provided Whiting with possible targets for her search. After her crew had prepared a plan for a systematic search, Whiting moved from target cluster to target cluster, mapping the ocean bottom using sidescan sonar. After eight hours of searching, Whiting found the wreck of S 5 directly over one of the suspected targets, made a sonar image of the wreck, and recorded its exact location. Whiting then made several more passes over the wreck to acquire additional images of it at various angles before leaving the scene.

The portion of S 5s hull plating that General G. W. Goethals removed to permit S 5s crew to escape from the submarine is on exhibit in the National Museum of the United States Navy in the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D. C.

NOAA donated the sonar data NOAAS Whiting gathered in 2001 during her discovery of the wreck of S 5 to the Submarine Force Library and Museum in Groton, Connecticut, for archiving and display.