Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-08-19

/ considered separately from reScuing the
/ crew who may all have died in the &C
| cident or may already have been res
cued wholly or in part,
/ Quick lifting of sunken submarine
| is the best insurance for rescuing the
/ crew. especially If the boat has been
/ designed SO as to permit keeping the
/ crew alive inside few days while lift
ing is proceeding In wartime quick
lifting has a value aside from this.
Our large submarines cost from 81
! 100000 to $4,000 600. They take long
time TO build. but may be sunk from a
| relatively slight damage, In time OF
war The value TO the national safety OF
getting Sunken submarine up III
hurry and back into action s mes
timable We need only to remember
our wild scurry in the last war TO build
warShipS to realize this. But in war
time if a submarine cannot be raised
in hurry it cannot be raised at all,
for enemy warShips will play havoc
with long-drawn- out operation. The
SalvagerS can be protected for few
days by screen of deStroyerS and other
submarines provided the task can be
finished in that time.
Lifting submarines was a simple task
as long as they remained small The
oldest known method and the easiest
more floating derrickS, tie on to the
sunken ship and hoist it up This is
the obvious method and is always used
when the boat is small enough and
other conditions permit. 1t has often
been used in the past. 1t was the
method used by the Italians TO lift the
FLA
Unfortunately, floating derricks are
limited by their hosting capacity. the
height of lifht. and worst of all, by their
instability and inability to work except
in relatively calm weather They cam
not be taken out TO sea. for bad weather
NAV wreck them before they can get
back they cannot take a lift except
IN reasonably quiet water or the lifting
cables will snap under the strain as the
0erricks roll in the sea,
Weather Prevented Rescue.
The cases of our Ssh and the italian
F-l4 illustrate these points nicely. The
Ssh, i,0o0-ton boat. was sunk Is
miles out in the open ocean The
weather was good enough for divers to
work continuously attaching cables at
the stern where life was thought to
exist in the boat. but the ocean was too
bad 10 allow two large derricks teaSily
able to lift the F-l4) to move to the
spot where lay the Ssh The owners
Of the derricks made two starts with
them. each time they were forced To
turn back Not until five days had
passed was the weather good enough to
allow the derricks to move out to sea.
They hooked on TO the S-5Is stern and
both derricks heaved their utmost
They failed to bulge anything-the
Ssh was too large for such methods
The deTricks were hastily cast loose and
towcd back to harbor before a return
Of bad weather caught them outside.
The FLA was different case She
was OF about 240 tons surface displace-
nent, about one-fourth as large as the
S-5l. and only one-third as large as
the S-4. Fortunately she went down
not far OFF shore Both her location
and her size permitted the use of such
floating derricks, or surface pontoons,
as the Italians had available in nearby
Pola Then the splendid discipline of
The Italian crew of the Fla had caused
them TO stick by their posts when their
ship was ripped open by the Missori's
propeller. and they managed to shut
the doors and valves sealing the dam
aged stern off from the fore part of
the boat. The result was that only the
flooded stern rested on the bottom
The buoyant bow hoated at an angle
within about so feet of the surface
permitting aircraft to spot ii through
the clear water OF the Adriatic As
conditions stood. the dead weight 10
be lifted was reduced TO half the dis
placement Of the boat or iess-not over
some 100 tons.