Evening star., 1939-05-26
BY COMDR. EDWARD ELLsBERG
Z. S. N. r.,

U. S. N. r.,
salvaser Of the s-51 Author Of "on the
Bottom
PORTSMOUTH, N. H., May 90
The spotlight on the Squalus tragedy
is about to shift. The living are
safe ashore, apparently all we'll,
under careful medical surveillance
in the Naval Hospital at Portsmouth
after 40 hours on the bottom inside
an impromptu refrigerator at 36
degrees Fahrenheit. The dead still
lie inside the flooded boat, no longer
any question as to their fate since
late yesterday afternoon. The opera
tors in the Falcons S diving bell tele-
phoned up from the bottom of the
sea that they had opened the after
torpedo room hatch and found the
stern compartment flooded.
That briet telephone report con-
firmed what every submarine and
salvage man knew to be the fact
from the first message sent up from
the bottom and lifted the agonizing
uncertainty that for two days has
kept the wives of the men caught
aft haunting the water front and the
communications Office, alternating
between wild hope and anguished
dread at each shred of information
coming In from the salvage ships.
But 1t has lifted only to be succeeded
by a dull despair on grief stricken
faces that no one here is even likely
to forget.
The Why Remains.
The living are safe, the dead are
gone, but the question remains as
to why Squalus, newest and most
modern of our submarines, on a
routine shallow dive, plunged to the
bottom in manner reminicent OF
the days 40 years ago when sub
marines were merely slightly elongat-
ed coffins, more likely to stay down
after a dive than ever to come up
again. And while in the frantic
rush of the last 48 hours to save
those still alive the question OF
why" has been thrust into the
background, it is now slowly emerg-
ing in the minds of those men who
have to operate the submarines and
probably also in the minds of those
who design and build them.
The Squalus disaster raises ques-
ton our submarine forces have not
had to face for more than two
decades. The S-4 in 1927 and the
S-51 in 1925 were sunk by being
rammed and smashed wide open.
Nothing mysterious about that. The
SIS in 1920 was lost very definitely
because a petty officer unquestion-
ably forgot to close valve. We lost
boats before that because submarine
machinery had reached no very high
state of development and submarine
crews were in the early days not
particularly well trained nor dis
ciplined.
Now comes the Squalus, with ma
chinery presumably perfected, with
officers and men carefully selected
and thoroughly trained in special
schools, with automatic indicators
flashing warning lights in case
valves are forgotten and like the
most primitive undersea boat ever
built, she sinks and browns nearly
half her crew. Why?
From the beds of the officers and
men in the Naval Hospital, recover
ing from the shock. the bad air and
the freezing to which they have
been subjected 40 fathoms down
Some light is now being thrown on
the question, but only to make the
situation more involved.
Survivors Tell of Incidents.
Yesterday morning all hands res
cued from the Squalus, from 1t.
Oliver Naquin, commanding officer,
down to Basilio Galvan, Filipino
mess boy, very briefly told their
stories of what, as each had seen it,