USS S-5

USS S-5
History
Name	USS S-5
Ordered	4 March 1917
Builder	Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, Maine
Laid down	4 December 1917
Launched	10 November 1919
Sponsored by	Mrs. Glenn S. Burrell
Commissioned	6 March 1920
Stricken	1921
Fate	Sank 1 September 1920
General characteristics
Class and type	S-class submarine
Displacement	876 long tons (890 t) surfaced 1,092 long tons (1,110 t) submerged
Length	231 ft (70 m)
Beam	21 ft 10 in (6.65 m)
Draft	13 ft 1 in (3.99 m)
Installed power	1,000 hp (750 kW) (diesel engines) 600 hp (450 kW) (electric motors)
Propulsion	2 × four-cycle NELSECO-type diesel engines 2 × electric motors 2 × 60-cell EXIDE batteries 2 × shafts
Speed	15 kn (17 mph; 28 km/h) surfaced 11 kn (13 mph; 20 km/h) submerged
Test depth	200 ft (61 m)
Capacity	36,950 US gal (139,900 L) diesel fuel
Complement	4 officers and 34 men
Armament	1 × 4 in (100 mm) deck gun 4 × 21 in (530 mm) torpedo tubes (12 torpedoes)

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 was lost during full-power trials on 30 August 1920, but due to actions by her crew and the crews of other ships, no lives were lost.

Loss

Sinking

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 55 nautical miles (102 km) 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.

After considerable difficulty, the system valves in the other compartments were closed, but all efforts to secure the torpedo room valve met with failure. The abandoned torpedo room flooded, making the boat bow-heavy. An additional 80 long tons (81 t) of water in the motor room bilges caused her to settle on the bottom.

It was now impossible to eject water from the torpedo room. An attempt was then made to pump out the motor room, but a gasket blew out and there were no means for repair. Lying 180 ft (55 m) on the bottom, the crew had little hope of being found, much less being rescued.

Their situation now called for original thinking. They 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 ft (5.2 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 3 in (76 mm) in diameter.

Side view of USS S-5 (SS-110).

Steamship Alanthus standing by the stern of S-5 on 2 September 1920, the day after she accidentally sank off Delaware Bay.

NOAAS Whiting's first sonar image of the wreck of S-5 on the ocean bottom, made when Whiting discovered the wreck's exact location for the first time, late July 2001.

The circle of plating cut from S-5’s hull to allow men to escape was saved and is on display at the Navy Museum at the Washington Navy Yard in Washington, D.C. It is approximately two feet (61 cm) in diameter and 3/4 inch (1.9 cm) thick.

Rescue

A seaman on watch aboard the wooden steamship Alanthus, making her last voyage, spotted what he thought was a buoy on 2 September 1920. Knowing that no buoy should be so far out to sea, Alanthus's captain turned his vessel around to investigate. Approaching the submarine's stern rising above the ocean, the captain hailed S-5 in maritime fashion. That conversation became legend:

"What ship?"

"S-5."

"What nationality?"

"American."

"Where bound?"

"Hell by compass."

Alanthus could not help with the cutting, but was able to rig a pump to provide air, provide fresh water for drinking, and rig cables under S-5's stern to hold it above the surface. Alanthus had no radio, but at about 18:00 was able to contact the passing Pan-American liner General Goethals using signal flags.

General Goethals had a radio and contacted the U.S. Navy, and her crew immediately began enlarging the hole. By 01:45, it was big enough to squirm through. At 03:00, Lieutenant Commander Cooke became the last member of S-5's crew to leave the submarine. Her crew had suffered no deaths or serious injuries.

Later that morning, the battleship USS Ohio secured a towline to the stern of S-5 and proceeded to tow her to shallower water. The towline, however, parted and the loose submarne bobbed, then plunged to the bottom about 15 nautical miles (28 km) off Cape May, New Jersey. A long but ultimately unsuccessful attempt was made to raise S-5 and she was struck from the Naval Vessel Register in 1921. S-5 was the second submarine lost in U.S. Navy history.

Discovery of wreck

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 (S 329) 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 to search for the wreck.

Whiting's 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 – local recreational fishermen had reported and reports of possible locations of the wreck from divers that had visited it provided Whiting 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.

Museum holdings and displays

The portion of S-5's hull plating that General Goethals removed to permit S-5's crew to escape from the sunken submarine is on exhibit in the Navy Museum 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.

References

• Hill, A.J. Under Pressure: The Final Voyage of Submarine S-Five. Free Press, 2002. ISBN 978-0-7432-3677-5

 This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

External links

• On Eternal Patrol: USS S-5
• The Search for the USS S-Five - NOAA
• Navsource archive with multiple relevant pictures