Charles Momsen Charles Bowers Momsen ( June 21 , 1896 – May 25 , 1967 ) , nickname d " Swede " , was born in Flushing , New York . He was an American pioneer in submarine rescue for the United States Navy , and he invented the underwater escape device later called the " Momsen lung " , for which he received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal in 1929 . In May 1939 , Momsen directed the rescue of the crew of " Squalus " ( SS - 192 ) . Early years in the Navy . Momsen entered the U . S . Naval Academy in 1914 , but he was ejected due to a widespread cheating scandal during the spring of his first year there . However , Momsen pursued another appointment to the Academy , received it , repeated his plebe year , and graduated in 1919 — one year early , due to the involvement of the United States in World War I . From 1919 to 1921 , Momsen served in the battleship " Oklahoma " ( BB - 37 ) . In 1921 , he entered the Submarine School in New London , Connecticut , graduating in January 1922 . 18 months later , he took command of the aging submarine " O - 15 " ( SS - 76 ) . A few years later , he was given command of " S - 1 " ( SS - 105 ) , the newest Navy - designed submarine . Diving and rescue . Early interest . It was aboard " S - 1 " Momsen ' s attention became drawn to the urgent need for a way to rescue trapped submariners . On September 25 , 1925 , " S - 1 " s sister ship , " S - 51 " ( SS - 162 ) , collided with freighter " City of Rome " and sank in of water . Momsen was ordered to take " S - 1 " to search for the crippled submarine . " S - 1 " found the oil slick marking the spot where " S - 51 " had sunk , but without any sonar , there was no way for his crew to locate her on the bottom , nor was there a way for trapped crewmen to escape . Momsen began to look for ways to rescue submariners . He conceived a diving bell , which could be lowered to a submarine in distress , mated to an escape hatch , and opened to allow trapped submariners to climb in . A watertight seal to the submarine could be achieved by placing a rubber gasket around the diving bell ' s bottom and reducing the air pressure once the bell was over the escape hatch . Then , the hatch could be opened , and the trapped submariners could climb aboard . Momsen diagrammed his idea and sent it up the chain of command . He waited more than a year for a response , heard nothing , and concluded there must have been something technically wrong with the concept . Momsen ' s next tour of duty took him to the Submarine Division of the Bureau of Construction and Repair . Shortly after he reported aboard , he came across his diving bell drawings . They had been disapproved as impractical . He stated his case again , but to no avail . Shortly thereafter , in December 1927 , another submarine , the " S - 4 " ( SS - 109 ) , sank off Cape Cod . All forty of her crew died . Six sailors survived three days in the forward torpedo room , but had no way to escape . The Momsen lung . After the " S - 4 " incident , Momsen began working on a device to help trapped submariners escape safely to the surface . Officially called the Submarine Escape Lung , it consisted of an oblong rubber bag that recycled exhaled air . The press enthusiastically received the device and they dubbed it the " Momsen lung " , a name that stuck . The Momsen lung contains a canister of soda lime , which removes poisonous carbon dioxide from the exhaled air and then replenishes the air with oxygen . Two tubes lead from the bag to a mouthpiece : one with which to inhale air and the other to with which to exhale spent air . The device hangs around the wearer ' s neck and is strapped around the waist . Besides providing oxygen for the ascent , it also allows a submariner to rise slowly to the surface , thus avoiding embolisms . Between June 1929 and September 1932 , Lieutenant Momsen developed the lung along with Chief Gunner ' s Mate Clarence L . Tibbals and Frank M . Hobson , a civilian employee of the Bureau of Construction and Repair ( later the Bureau of Ships ) . In 1929 , Momsen received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal for personally testing the device at a depth of . The Momsen lung saved its first lives in October 1944 , when eight submariners used it to reach the surface after " Tang " ( SS - 306 ) sank in of water in the East China Sea . The Momsen lung was eventually supplemented by the Steinke hood and free - ascent techniques . The diving bell . Momsen returned to his diving bell idea in 1930 . He built a prototype , constructed from a water - tight aircraft hangar pirated from " S - 1 " and tested it off Key West , Florida . Momsen stated the bell was unstable , tipped , and leaked , and had several changes in mind for the diving bell , but was sent to the Bureau of Construction and Repair to teach submariners how to use the Momsen lung before he could make the changes . Lieutenant Commander Al McCann was put in charge of the revisions on the Momsen / McCann diving bell . When the redesigned diving bell was completed in late 1930 , it was introduced as the McCann Submarine Rescue Chamber . Momsen stated the redesign was a significant improvement over the prototype . The design incorporated a floor bulkhead , a pneumatic winch , and a pressure seal allowing direct transfer of survivors to the diving bell in a dry environment . Gas mixtures . From 1937 to 1939 , Momsen led an experimental deep - sea diving unit at the Washington Navy Yard which achieved a major breakthrough in the physiology of the human lung ' s gas mixtures under high pressure . At depths greater than , on pure oxygen , and , on air , the oxygen turns toxic . Underwater , breathing air , nitrogen enters the blood , then tissues , and below may cause euphoria commonly called " nitrogen narcosis " . Also , divers who ascend too rapidly can get decompression sickness , commonly known as " the bends , " which happens when nitrogen in the blood forms bubbles . These bubbles can block blood flow and cause intense pain , even death . In experiments often performed by Momsen himself , the team replaced the nitrogen with nontoxic helium and mixed it with varying levels of oxygen depending on the depth . Today ' s divers use the knowledge to operate safely deeper than . The " Squalus " rescue . Momsen , already famous for the invention of his Momsen lung , achieved even more fame for directing the rescue and recovery of the 33 crewmen of " Squalus " , which sank in May 1939 in of water off the Isles of Shoals , New Hampshire . Working from the submarine rescue ship USS " Falcon " ( ASR - 2 ) , Momsen instructed the team of deep - sea diver s as they dived to the submarine and attached cables to the rescue chamber . Commander McCann supervised rescue chamber operators as it made four dives to bring the submariners to the surface and a fifth to check the flooded aft section for survivors . The fourth dive was marred by a cable jam , and the chamber had to be hauled to the surface by hand over hand pulling by all on board . All 33 surviving crewmen were rescued . Momsen led the effort to salvage the " Squalus " , which took 113 days . She was taken to the drydock at the Portsmouth Navy Yard . Along with Commander McCann , Momsen received a letter of commendation from President Franklin D . Roosevelt for the successful rescue of the crewmen from the " Squalus " and the subsequent salvage of the submarine . After her repairs , the " Squalus " was renamed the USS " Sailfish " , and the name " Squalus " was never used by the U . S . Navy again . World War II . During World War II , Momsen served as Commander , Submarine Squadron 2 ( ComSubRon 2 ) and ( ComSubRon 2 ) and Commander , Submarine Squadron 4 . ( ComSubRon 4 ) While Momsen was ComSubRon 2 in the U . S . Pacific Fleet , captains under his command reported their Mark 14 torpedo es were not functioning properly . When fired from the preferred perpendicular angle of impact , the torpedo es did not always explode . However , when fired to hit at acute angles , the torpedoes usually exploded . When officers of Momsen ' s own squadron complained , he decided to find out why . He took torpedoes to the shallow waters and sheer cliffs of the Hawaiian Island of Kahoolawe and fired until he got a dud . Then , risking his own life , he dove into the water to find the unexploded torpedo . With help , he recovered the dangerous live torpedo and brought it on board . A small problem with the firing pin inside the primer cap of the warhead was causing the duds : it was crushing , rather than firing the warhead . In Fall 1943 , ComSubPac initiated the Navy ' s first wolfpack . Momsen drilled his captains and their executive officers in tactics , planning to have three boats act in company , one boat making the first attack on a convoy then acting as " trailer " , while the other two attacked alternatively on either flank afterward . He also developed a simple code for use on Talk Between Ships ( TBS ) . The pack consisted of Edgar McGregor ' s " Shad " , experienced skipper Dave White ' s new " Cero " , and " Grayback " , fresh from refit in Mare Island ( and with one of the Submarine Force ' s first deck gun ) , under newcomer John Moore . Momsen , without any combat experience , flew his flag in " Cero " . The pack arrived in the East China Sea in October 1943 . It proved unable to solve the problems of communication and risk of fratricide , and made only one joint attack on a single convoy , but was credited at the time with sinking five Japanese ships for 88 , 000 tons and damaging eight others for 63 , 000 tons between them . ( This was reduced to three sunk for 23 , 500 tons by JANAC postwar . ) Momsen also received the Legion of Merit for work on the Navy ' s wolfpacks from February 1943 to June 1944 . Momsen earned a Navy Cross for his efforts . Momsen commanded the battleship " South Dakota " from December 1944 through August 1945 . For his distinguished service in command , Momsen was awarded a Gold Star ( with Combat " V " ) , in lieu of a third award of the Legion of Merit . Military decorations . In addition to the Navy Cross once and the Legion of Merit with two Gold Stars ( to show repeat awards ) and " V " device , Momsen earned the Navy Distinguished Service Medal , Army Distinguished Service Medal , Navy Commendation Medal with " V " device , World War I Victory Medal with escort clasp , American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp , American Campaign Medal , Asiatic - Pacific Campaign Medal with four service stars , World War II Victory Medal , Navy Occupation Service Medal , National Defense Service Medal , Philippine Liberation Medal with one bronze star and the Submarine Warfare insignia . Later years . In November 1945 , he directed a fleet of nearly 200 surplus Army and Navy ships , manned by Japanese crews , that evacuated the first of nearly six million Japanese from Manchuria , Formosa , and islands in the Pacific . Momsen served on the Navy General Board from June 1947 until May 1948 . He served as Assistant Chief of Naval Operations for Undersea Warfare from 1948 to 1951 , then became Commander of the Submarine Force ' s Pacific Fleet . Vice Admiral Momsen died of cancer on May 25 , 1967 . He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery . Namesake . The 42nd " Arleigh Burke " - class guided missile destroyer , " Momsen " ( DDG - 92 ) is named in his honor . Momsen Hall , the 75 - man Bachelor Officer Quarters at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center ( AUTEC ) , Andros Island , Bahamas , was named in his honor in 1969 . On November 10 , 2009 , the U . S . Navy ' s newest trainer , the Submarine Escape Trainer , was named in honor of Admiral Momsen in ceremonies at the New London Submarine Base .