Evening star., 1928-03-25
Complete Submarine Safety Still Sought

men who lined her rail and watched the
blue water of Massachusetts Bay cream and foam
AS the coming tower of the S-4 rose to the
surface again gave sailors cheer waved their
hats in the air and short time later went to
their stations weighed anchor and sailed away
home. The fate of the S-4 might be the fate
of the S-6 what happened to the S-4 three
months ago might happen to the So three
months hence. Life aboard the S-4 three
months ago was no different from life aboard
the As other IS" type submarines TODAY The
hazards OF the sea which threatened the S-4
three months ago remain to threaten her sister
ships which sail the seas today And in addi-
ton to the 4e IS" type submarines, there are
20 r. type submarines and 20" type subma-
rines, which antedate in their construction the
Vpes[which lack some of the safety de-
vices which went into the construction of the
IS" boats.
1t was not the death alone of the 40 men
aboard the S-4 that gripped the imagination and
left the Nation horror r-Strcken and protesting
1t was the manner of their death. Had there
been an explosion aboard the S-4 or some other
catastrophe that killed men where they stood the
Nation would have been stunned at the calamity
and loss of life But there would have been
lacking that vindictive attack upon the Navy
Department which has been unique reaction to
the sinking of the S-4. What marked the S-4
disaster apart from other disasters of the sea
was the fact that men lived imprisoned in her
steel hull after she went down and the only
thing to do for them was to let them die. There
was the grinning Specter OF death. mockingly
tapping with hammer on one side of steel
wall daring life, on the other side to enter and
drive it away. Life could not enter. Life was
mpotent and helpless. And when death had
won the sympathy OF those who had watched
the heart-breaktng struggle from the sidelines
turned to an incoherent storm of protest over
the fact that the Navy Department had been
able to do nothing about 1t.
X
Now that the storm has passed and time
comes for cooler reflection. has the death OF
the 40 men trapped in the S-4 made future sub
marine work any safer? Will their tragic fate
lead to any drastic changes in the design of
submarines? Will the skeleton of the S-4 rest
ing IN dry dock at Boston, teach a lesson that
may be applied to the AS sister ships of the S-4
which today are daring the dangers of the sea
as the S4 dared them?
One is tempted to answer buntlv and
categorlcally, No But whether any lessons
are to be learned from the hull of the S-4
remains to be seen. The actual cause OF the S-4
disaster, however. and what happened afterward
demonstrated nothing that has not been known
by naval experts for years They could have
told in advance that II submarine rose sud-
denly under the prov Of a fast-movinR de-
stroyer; that II her battery room and control
room were flooded and evacuated by the crew
the sub would sink helplessly to the bottom
And they knew further that il the crew of
submarine was trapped In a submarine at a depth
Oh l02 feet under the surface with rough weather
overhead, there was little to expect in the way
OF rescue Every submarine carries multitude
OF SaIety devices. just as every railroad is