New Britain herald., 1926-04-20
DOZEN INJURED
 IN SUB BLAST
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been stored away on racks attached overhead.
 The compartment is about 50 feet long and about 20 feet wide. The walls are concave in shape, cores bonding 10 the contour Of the sub marine below the superstructure, Many valves and pipe lines are at tached 10 the outboard bulkhcads, and it Is possible that some Of these may have been torn open by the cx- plosion.
 Nearly all the equipment above the deck Of the battery room is easily re- movable, The deck, set as 1t is in l2o different pieces, must have been sent flying in all directions. The mess tables and benches are con. structed of heavy wood. with metal legs and struts. Any powerful blast would send this equipment to every corner of the compartment.
 Rescue Party Gets Busy
 The base fire alarm was rung. call i'lb hiA tl All' oN dllu pIf lllFll hl lnt base 10 the pier, and doning gas masks, the rescue workers descend. cd into the ship. and brought out the injured, and closed and sealed the doors leading from the battery room to the control room and to the tor pedo compartment, thus preventing the fire which broke out from spreading, and scaling the rest Of the ship from further invasion by the gas. The deck hatch was then seal ed, and the air supply leading into the battery compartment was shut off. and with no air to feed on the hydrogen gas burned itself off, and the fire was extinguished.
 Supplies From Hospital
 The injured were removed to the sick bay where the entire medical corps of the base hastily assembled, and the work Of relief went for ward there during the entire day. The Lawrence and Memorial hos pital was appealed to for aid and supplies of splints and bandages were rushed to the base.
 As the men were brought into the sick bay they were hastily examined and those most seriously injured were given immediate treatment. ! Matthew Timothy Greenville, first class quartermaster, was found 10 be in extremely critical condition, with probably fractured skull, 1 broken legs and arms, and internal injuries. He is not expected to live. Theodore Hoist, Jr., chief boat swain's mate and Frederick France Horn, second class boatswain's mate, are also in serious condition with legs broken and severe internal ln- juries.
 1 No Officers On Board. The vessel carries four officers but none of them were aboard at the time of the explosion. She is con- manded by Lieut.. Commander w. D. Snyder of l7 Henry street this city. She returned to the base two weeks ago from Portsmouth, N. H., and had since been moored at the base. Last night the batteries were order ed charged, and they were still in the process of charging when the ex- i plosion occurred. Smoking is not all Flowed in the battery compartment. and it Is believed the explosion was l due to spontaneous combustion. Fly drogen is very inflammablc. and it is the opinion that the gas, leaking from the battery became ignited causing the blast. The S-type of submarines are equipped with mod ern ventilating devices, designed to draw off the gases from the battery as well as the other compartm nts 1 but occasionally something happens to the ventilating machinery. and it Is thought that such was the case this morning.
 As soon as the Injured had been removed from the submarine and the battery compartment was sealed. a board if investigation impaneled hy Captain F. ]. King, commandant of the submarine base 10 investigate the disaster. Commander F. F, Cutts. base executive officer was named as senior member of the board, the others being Lieut.. Com mander r. w. Schandland and Lieut.. A, F. McCann, Lieut.. C. +. Jefferson named as recorder of the board.