Evening star., 1928-12-12
S-4 BACK ON SEAS
AS SAFETY GRAF 7
Submarine in Which 40 Died
to Be Used for Diving
Experiments.
BY NAT A. BARROWS.

4. North American Newspaper Alliance.
NEW LONDON, Conn, December IL.
| jogging down the coast at the end of
a tow line, floating hulk that once
was the submarine S-4, tomb of 40 men
almost a year ago as she lay on the
bottom of the sea off Provincetown, will
| arrive at the Nays submarine base
here this morning for series OF safety
| experiments that is expected to revolu-
tionize completely the science of deep
sea diving.
The S-4 is back on the Seas-as a
safety shipl She has no engines or
motors. From the exterior she looks
much as she did last December II when
she was struck by the Coast Guard de-
Stroyer Paulding but on the inside she
! is almost stripped. At great expense
| the Navy has refltted her as labora-
| tory for safety experiments, and she will
go through her PAGES here and at Key
| West. Fla, under the observance of the
! Navys keenest submarine men. The
! Navy is determined that the tragedy Of
Provincetown shall not have been in
vain.
Practical Devices Developed.
Thousands of suggestions for in
! creased submarine safety have come to
naval officials since the S-4 went down,
and out of this number have been de-
| veloped many practical devices, some
of which might have saved the men of
the S-4 if these devices had been per-
! fected last year
But apart from the strictly practical
| side of the experiments is another side,
| full of romance and containing perhaps
| a solution to the dreams of those who
seek to penetrate the seas beyond the
| present depth OF safety and recover
Sunken treasures
Millions of dollars lie in the ocean
| at depths beyond the safety level of the
| present diving system. If the tests here
are successful-and the Navy men are
confident that they will be successful
it may be possible for divers to get be-
! low the 350-foot level and work in com:
fort and at ease at great depthsf
The renovated submersible, Defender,
a strange looking, somewhat mysterious
, craft that Simon Lake constructed 20
/ years ago, may hold the solution of the
deep diving problem. She has been
hired by the Navy for series of tests
with the S-4 here. It is expected that
! she will arrive here from Bridgeport in
a few days, and, although there are
many other important experiments to
be made here, the men of the subma-
rine base are giving their greatest in
terest to the Defenders tests.
In the bow of the Defender is
chamber, much like diving bell. The
Defender, as strange contraption as
anything Jules Verne ever imagined,
is equipped with three wheels and she
| will sink to the bottom during the tests.
near the submerged S-4 Divers will
operate out of the diving bell bow. BY
| means of large. buoys on the surface,
the Defender can be hauled along The
bottom for short distances, while the
| supervisors of the divers can peer
through glass portfolios and direct the
work.
, Now, it is explained, the development
of the Defenders diving bell arrange
ment viii enable divers to avoid return
ing to the surface after each dive, and.
what Is more important, it will elimi-
nate the dangerous passage from the
60-foot level to the surface, in which
the diver is liable to be overcome by
the bends" Easily adjusting himself
to the pressure as the diving ship lies
on the bottom, the diver can work for
long period of time and at greater
depths.
Bends" Great Problem.
The great problem today in diving to
| 300 feet and further is the danger of
| the bends" or caiSson disease A flow
| OF nitrogen bubbles through the human
system as result of too sudden change
in the water pressure. BY the use of an
arrangement similar to the Defenders
| divers bell it would be possible for the
divers to return to the mother craft at
intervals, receive a short recompression
or change in the pressure and return
to work.
Its successful demonstration may
mean the recovery of all manner of
sunken treasure trove, as well as easy
rescue and salvage of submarines
trapped in great depths.
From the viewpoint of the submarine
men. one of the more important tests
to be made on the S-4 here will be a
demonstration of the pad eyes" These
! pad eyes" are ring bolts attached to
the side of the Sd amidships. and by
their aid it is expected that the work
OF raising Sunken submarine will be
reduced from months to days Under
the present system it is necessary TO
! tunnel under the craft in order to at
| tach the chains leading from the pom
toorls or air-fllled tanks which raise the
/ vessel. By using pad eyes" it will be
necessary only for diver to descend to
/ the submarine, locate the "eyes" and
hook pontoon chains, task of less
| than a day.
Earlier development of these pad
eyes, might have facilitated the rails
| ing Of the Sd. Because it was necessary
to tunnel through the mud under the
! submarine in order to get a purchase
for the pontoon chains, the salvaging of
the submarine took three months.
Further Tests to Be Made.
The S-4 will remain here only until
| the first of the year, and then she will
be tcwed down the coast to Key West,
where further safety experiments will
be carried out, among them tests with
the newly developed "lung," device
for enabling submarine crews to escape
from sunken submarine. Lieut..
Charles MomSen of the Naval Bureau
of Construction and Repair, one OF the
inventors of this lung" is at the sub
marine base here. and it is probable
that the device will be given test in
cold water here The lung is much
like gas mask, and submarine men
can come to the surface from a con-
siderable depth through It's use.
That the country still is intensely in
terested in the activities of the S-4 is
shown by the presence in New London
last night OF an army of newspaper men
and movie and still photographers al
most aS large as the one which fol-
lowed the rescue operations at Province
town.
Copyright. 1923. by North American News
paper Alliance.l