The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1915-10-28
/ END OF The IA
Men on Ill-Fated Submarine
Met Horrible Death.
They Expired Struggling 800
Feet Below Sea Surface.
The INQUIRY BOARDS REPORT
Leak in COrrOded Battery
Caused PIunger to Sink.
Men Did Not Die Quickly as
First Supposed.
THE INQUIRY BOARDS REPORT

Washington, Oct. 2S-A graphic
vain 800 feet beneath the surface of
the sea by the twenty-one men who
persisted in the navys submarine F-4,
last March at Honolulu, is told in.the
final report on the loss of the vessel
submitted by a board of inquiry head
ed by Rear Admiral Busch and just
made public. Examination of the
wrecked hull after it had been brought
to the surface and placed in drydock,
convinced the board that disaster was
caused by leak resulting from a cor
roded battery lining and the failure
of the boat through poor diving quail
ties to respond promptly to the rud
der, which should have returned her
to the surface.
Discarding the theory once ad-
vanced that chlorine gas brought
quick relief in death to the crew, the
board from signs within the rusted
and battered hulk pieces out in its
report a dramatic account of how the
doomed men Strove desperately to save
themselves as their vessel sank to the
bottom. Fifteen met death in the en-
CINE room where they sought refuge
at the last; six died at their posts in
the flooded forward compartment.
All members of the ships company
are absolved from blame.
The Report.
The report says:
1.-The personnel were not asphyxi-
ated before the vessel, under normal
conditions, could have been brought to
the surface.
"Corroded rivet in port wall of for
ward battery steel tank, in wake OF
frame No. 81, was found to leak
water-not more than one foot-to
which this portion of tank could be
subjected in dock and, therefore,
ION the dive of March %, 1915,
this corroded rivet leaked consider
ably.
due to inevitable short circuit or
heavy ground caused by flooding of
cells through slop tanks, in the pres
Cor in the presence of free hydrogen
alone, if in sufficient quantity an
electric arc struck and, therefore, an
explosion occurred.
"a battery fire of limited extent oc-
Cured in the forward battery positive
cell; but nevertheless this battery fire
was not the primary cause of the
disaster.
Leaks the Cause.
Leak found in port wall of for
ward battery steel tank; probable
leaks around certain other corroded
riVetS in both battery tanks; probable
leak through open torpedo tube; 9th.
erwise, no positive evidence as to
where leakage occurred; and, there
fore, the vessel began to leak through
open seams, when, or before, the depth
of 800 feet was reached and at such
a rate that the weight of water con-
ing in was greater than the weight of
water being expelled from the ballast
tanks
The report continues:
mo evidence was found that the
F4 had poor diving qualities prior to
her docking in February, 1915, when
experimental propellers were fitted
the only known alteration made; and,
therefore, the experimental propellers
so substituted probably so affected the
influence of the after diving rudders
as to make it difficult for the diving
rudder man to control the vessel; and,
furthermore, the poor diving quail
ties consequent upon this change of
propellerS were the secondary cause of
the disaster
Negligence the Cause.
A statement issued here Wednes-
day night by Henry P. Carse, president
of the Electric Boat company, design
er of the submarine F-4, attributed the
loss of the boat with her crew in
Honolulu harbor to the fact that bal
last tank air valves had been left open.
Corrosion of the LEAD lining of the bat
teries and of rivets found by the naval
board of inquiry to have been the pr!-
mary cause of the disaster, the state
ment said indicated lack of care, but
could not have been more than a con-
tributory cause.
Of the naval board criticism of the
diving qualities of the F-4. Mr., Carse
said:
1.-The propellers of the F4 were an
improved design on those used on pie
vious boats. These propellers differed
only slightly, having increased area of
blades. They were used on this boat
and no evidence of poor diving quail
ties were discovered then, nor was any