Omaha daily bee., 1915-03-27

the bottom OF Honolulu harbor, under at
least thirty-fivs fathoms OF waterproof
/ ably more-the submarine, F-4. lies help
lese with its commander and at least
eighteen men in what Is feared TO be one
Of the worst submarine boat disasters in
the worlds history.
More than twenty-four hours OF effort
10 raise the sunken boat or get a signal
! from its crew have failed. It's marker
buoy, which should have come to the
| top to mark it's resting place in such
an emergency, has failed TO appear; the
surface OF the water at thirty fathoms is
covered with oil from the submerged
boats tanks.
Navy department officials fear one OF
two calaInities-that the F4 struck a
rock and that its crew we're drowned in
the inrushing waters or that there was an
internal explosion.
While hope for the men has not been
given up, the gravest fears are enter
tanned that they may have been lost in
the first submarine disaster in the United
States navy.
On the face OF meager official reports.
which said the F-4 disappeared at 9;16
o o'clock yesterday morning after making
a dive during maneuvers and that con-
slant graphing and diving has failed to
locate it definitely, naval officers fear
the boat may have slipped over a ledge
on the volcanic rock bottom of the
harbor into some deep pocket out of
reach OF help.
The diving record of a man is 40, the
worlds diving record of a submarine,
made by an American boat. the FL,
sister ship Of the F4, is 2S3 feet If the
"a, by accident or otherwise. has gone
deeper, it is feared the tremendous pres
sure Of the waters has crushed its she'll
oil Rises to Surface.
Commander Smiths mention of the en-
trance of the harbor being covered with
oil created alarm at the Navy depart
mont. 1t was feared that the F-4 had
struck 6. rock, although It was pointed
out that Lieutenant EIDE might have
blown out the vessels oil to tighten it's
burden.
But the alarm Of officials was increased
by the omission in Commander Smiths
report of any reference to a signal from
the submarine 1t was equipped with a
marker buoy attached to the outside of
the submarine and capable Of being re.
leased from within. AS no mention was
made of the appearance of the marker
buoy officials concluded it has not come
to the surface.
The usual diving radius OF a submarine
is between $50 and 200 feet. The worlds
record for diving, made by the FL, q sis
ter ship of the sunken F-4 in San Fran
cisco bay two years ago, IS 2SS feet, at
W hich depth 1t remained for ten minutes
and cruised at a speed OF six knots. At
that depth the hull creaked and gruaned
under the tremendous pressure and Lieu
tenant James B. Howell, its commander,
| reported that the water seeped through
the seams.
Early today the Navy department was
| without full information from Rear Ad-
niral Moore and merely had one brief
dispatch saying the F-4 had gone down
and had not returned, and the other from
| Commander Smith.
Commander Smiths dispatch mentions
thirty-fathom depth gave some hope
that the F4 might not be more than $50
feet down, in which case there might be
chance for the rescue of its crew II
the work were done promptly
| Until the present time the United
States has been particularly fortunate
with its submarines. Not life has been
lost in their operation, although some of
the ships have sustained minor accidents.
such as are now uncommon to the hazard
Of submarine maneuvers. European
navies, however. have had several seri-
out accidents in which submarines have
gone to the bottom and with their crews
never have been recovered.
| 1t was pointed out today that American
submarines have one feature Of construe-
ton intended TO meet just such an
emergency as confronts the F-4, On their
outer skin are large eyes into which
graphing hooks being trailed from. rescue
sunken craft may be hauled into shallow
water or to the surface.
The waters of Honolulu harbar, where
the F4 lies, have volcanic rock forma-
tons at their bottom with tall sharp
peaks and deep narrow pockets. The fear
Is that the F-4 may have fallen into one
Of the latter.