Oliver F. Naquin
Oliver Francis Naquin | |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Nake |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | United States Navy |
| Years of service | 1925-1955 |
| Rank | Rear Admiral |
| Commands held | USS Squalus |
| Battles/wars | Battle of Coral Sea, Battle of Midway, Battle of Tassafaronga |
| Awards | Bronze Star |
| Other work | Military Assistance Advisory Group |
Rear Admiral Oliver Francis Naquin, USN (March 24, 1904-November 13, 1989) was born in New Orleans, and was a 1925 graduate of the United States Naval Academy. He was one of 33 men rescued by the McCann Rescue Chamber when the submarine USS Squalus sank in 240 feet of water during routine sea trials in the Atlantic Ocean off Portsmouth, New Hampshire on May 23, 1939, and was rescued in two-day rescue operation.
USS Squalus disaster
Twenty-six men (1 officer, Ensign Joseph H. Patterson, 30 naval personnel, and two civilian technicians, Donald M. Smith and Charles M. Wood)[clarification needed] were trapped in a flooded aft compartment and died. The remaining thirty-two naval personnel and a second civilian, naval architect Harold C. Preble, spent up to 39 hours in the sunken vessel before they were brought to the surface by the McCann Rescue Chamber which was used for the first time. Survivors of the USS Squalus were brought up in four trips as the diving bell rode a cable attached to the forward escape hatch of the USS Squalus. A naval board of inquiry concluded that “a mechanical failure in the operating gear of the engine induction valve,” had caused flooding of the aft compartment. The USS Squalus was later salvaged, repaired and returned to sea as the renamed USS Sailfish (SS-192), receiving credit for sinking seven enemy vessels in World War II.
World War II
Naquin also was a survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor while aboard the battleship USS California (BB-44), which sank in shallow water after being struck a bomb and two torpedoes in the Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941. During World War II, he served as navigator of the heavy cruiser USS New Orleans (CA-32) in the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway. At the Battle of Tassafaronga on November 30, 1942 the cruiser was struck by a Japanese torpedo, which detonated the ship's forward magazines and gasoline tanks and the ensuing explosion severed 150ft of her bow forward of turret #2. The severed bow, including turret #1, swung around the port side and crushed several holes in the New Orleans' hull before it sank at the stern and damaged the port inboard propeller. Naquin guided the ship to Tulagi Harbor, which was reached near daybreak on December 1, 1942 for repairs and was awarded a Bronze Star for his role in saving the vessel.
Post-war
Naquin held several high staff positions after the war and was the chief naval officer in the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Britain, at his retirement on July 1, 1955 after a 34-year career in the Navy. He lived in Arlington, Virginia.
He died on November 13, 1989, at age 85, of pancreatic cancer at Andrews Air Force Base Hospital and was buried in Section 5 of Arlington National Cemetery.
References
Notes
Obituary, New York Times, November 15. 1989
Barrows, Nathaniel A. Blow All Ballast! The Story of the Squalus. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co, 1940.
Department's Report on "Squalus" Disaster. Washington: U.S. G.P.O., 1939.
Gray, Edwyn. Disasters of the Deep: A Comprehensive Survey of Submarine Accidents and Disasters. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press, 2003.
Naval Historical Center (U.S.). USS Squalus (SS-192) The Sinking, Rescue of Survivors, and Subsequent Salvage, 1939. Washington, D.C.: Naval Historical Center, 1998. http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq99-1.htm
LaVO, Carl. Back from the Deep: The Strange Story of the Sister Subs Squalus and Sculpin. Annapolis, Md: Naval Institute Press, 1994.
Mariners' Museum (Newport News, Va.). Salvage of the Squalus: Clippings from Newspapers, May 25, 1939-Jan. 20, 1941. Newport News, Va: Mariners' Museum, 1942.
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (U.S.). Technical Report of the Salvage of U.S.S. Squalus. Portsmouth, N.H.: U.S. Navy Yard, 1939.
Falcon (Salvage ship), and Albert R. Behnke. Log of Diving During Rescue and Salvage Operations of the USS Squalus: Diving Log of USS Falcon, 24 May 1939-12 September 1939. Kensington, Maryland: Reprinted by Undersea & Hyperbaric Medical Society, 2001
Maas, Peter. The Rescuer. New York: Harper & Row, 1967.
Diving in the U.S. Navy a brief history. http://purl.access.gpo.gov/GPO/LPS88384
Maas, Peter. The Terrible Hours: The Man Behind the Greatest Submarine Rescue in History. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 1999.