USS O - 5 ( SS - 66 ) USS " O - 5 " ( SS - 66 ) was an " O " - class submarine . Her keel was laid down on 8 December 1916 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company of Quincy , Massachusetts . She was launched on 11 November 1917 , and commissioned on 8 June 1918 with Lieutenant George A . Trever in command . She sank by collision , with three lives lost , in the Panama Canal Zone 28 October 1923 . Service history . During the final months of World War I , " O - 5 " operated along the Atlantic coast and patrolled from Cape Cod to Key West , Florida . She departed Newport , Rhode Island on 3 November with a 20 - submarine contingent bound for European waters ; however , hostilities had ceased before the vessels reached the Azores . After the Armistice with Germany , " O - 5 " operated out of the Submarine School at New London , Connecticut until 1923 . " O - 5 " then sailed to Coco Solo , Panama Canal Zone , for a brief tour . On 28 October , as " O - 5 " entered Limon Bay , preparatory to transiting the Panama Canal , she was rammed by the United Fruit Company steamer " Abangarez " and sank in less than a minute . Three men died ; 16 others escaped Two crewmembers , Henry Breault and Lawrence Brown , were trapped in the forward torpedo room , which they sealed against the flooding of the submarine . Local engineers and divers were able to rig cranes and other equipment and lift " O - 5 " far enough off the bottom that the bow broke the surface , exposing a hatch which led to the compartment where the two men were trapped , allowing them to be freed . Henry Breault was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions . Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 April 1924 , she was raised and later sold as a hulk to R . K . Morris in Balboa , Panama , on 12 December 1924 . The sinking made " O - 5 " valueless for future naval service . She was stripped of valuable fittings and equipment when sold for $ 3 , 125 . Her original cost had been $ 638 , 000 . Recovery of the O - 5 . On 28 October 1923 , the " O - 5 " was operating with other units of the U . S . Atlantic Fleet under the command of Commander Submarine Force , Coco Solo , Canal Zone . At approximately 0630 , " O - 5 " , under the command of Lieutenant Harrison Avery , was underway across Limon Bay toward the entrance to the Panama Canal . The steamship SS " Abangarez " , owned by the United Fruit Company and captained by Master W . A . Card , was underway toward Dock No . 6 at Cristobal . Through a series of maneuvering errors and miscommunication , the SS " Abangarez " collided with the " O - 5 " and struck the submarine on the starboard side of the control room , opening a hole some ten feet long and penetrating the number one main ballast tank . The submarine rolled sharply to port – then back to starboard – and sank bow first in 42 feet of water . Salvage efforts began immediately , and divers were sent down from a salvage tug that arrived from Coco Solo . By 10 : 00am , they were on the bottom examining the wreck . To search for trapped personnel , they hammered on the hull near the aft end of the ship and worked forward . Upon reaching the torpedo room , they heard answering hammer blows from inside the boat . In 1923 the only way the salvage crew could get the men out of the submarine was to lift it physically from the mud using cranes or pontoons . One of the largest crane barges in the world , " Ajax " , built specifically for handling the gates of the canal locks , was in the Canal Zone . However , there had been a landslide at the famous Gaillard Cut and " Ajax " was on the other side of the slide , assisting in clearing the Canal . The excavation shifted into high gear and by 2 : 00pm on the afternoon of the sinking , the crane barge " Ajax " squeezed through and was on its way to the " O - 5 " site . Divers worked to tunnel under the " O - 5 ’ s " bow so lifting cables could be attached . " Ajax " arrived about midnight , and by early morning , the cable tunnel had been dug , the cable run , and a lift was attempted . Sheppard J . Shreaves , supervisor of the Panama Canal ’ s salvage crew and himself a qualified diver , had been working continuously throughout the night to dig the tunnel , snake the cable under the submarine , and hook it to " Ajax ’ s " hoist . Now the lift began . As the crane took a strain , the lift cables broke . Shreaves and his crew worked another cable set under the bow and again " Ajax " pulled . Again , the cable broke . All through the day , the men worked . Shreaves had been in his diving suit nearly 24 hours . As midnight on the 29th approached , the crane was ready for another lift , this time with buoyancy being added by blowing water out of the flooded Engine Room . Then , just after midnight , the bow of " O - 5 " broke the surface . Men from the salvage force quickly opened the torpedo room hatch , and Breault and Brown emerged into the fresh air . Brown ' s Account . Breault and I separated to pound on each of the boat ’ s sides . In this way , the rescuers would know that were two of us . Breault played a kind of tune with his hammer , indicating to the diver that we were in good shape and cheerful . Neither of us knew Morse Code . We had no food or water , and only a flashlight . We were confident we could stay alive for forty - eight hours . … The high pressure and foul air gave us severe headaches . We did very little moving or talking ; it excited our hearts too much . … We heard scraping on the hull for hours . A couple of times we felt the O - 5 being lifted , and then we got tossed roughly when the slings broke . We knew they were hard after us . This buoyed our hopes for rescue tremendously . … Finally , the sub began to be tilted upward slowly . We felt we would escape this time , but it seemed like forever . The last 20 minutes were unbearable . We heard our comrades walking on deck . Breault opened the hatch and we could see daylight . We were saved ! ! ! Aftermath . Lieutenant Harrison Avery was held responsible for the collision on 26 November 1923 , but a later Court of Naval Inquiry cleared the " O - 5 " of blame for the collision . At the time of his death , in October 1934 , Lieutenant Commander Avery commanded the of the Asiatic Fleet . United States vs . United Fruit Company ( Submarine " O - 5 " – " SS Abangarez " ) continued in the courts . Federal Judge Wayne G . Borah , New Orleans , on 20 August 1932 , ruled the O - 5 was at fault in the collision .