ARMY & NAVY: Squallus Home

ARMY & NAVY

Early one morning last week, 115 days after the submarine Squahis sank off the New Hampshire coast, salvage boats tugged her to drydock at Portsmouth Navy Yard. On hand to watch the grim job of opening her hatch were her skipper, Lieut. Oliver Naquin, and 27 of 32 fellow survivors.

One officer, two civilian observers, 22 enlisted men were dead below. Most of the bodies were found, as expected, in the after torpedo room. One of the 26 who went down was missing, presumably washed overboard while the Squahis was being raised and towed. After inspecting the chamber, odorous with old death, Lieut.-Commander Charles B. Momsen said they must have drowned swiftly and mercifully, too quickly even to reach for the Momsen “escape lungs” which he invented. Commander Momsen also observed that the Navy could improve its arrangements for salvage after future submarine disasters.

Inspection confirmed her commander’s theory of how the Squalus was flooded. One of her two air-intake valves tested at Portsmouth closed in good order. But the other stuck, closed only after repeated efforts, indicating how death had flooded the Squalus.