USS S - 4 ( SS - 109 ) USS " S - 4 " ( SS - 109 ) was an " S " - class submarine of the United States Navy . In 1927 , she was sunk by being accidentally rammed by a Coast Guard destroyer with the loss of all hands but was raised and restored to service until stricken in 1936 . Building . Her keel was laid down on 4 December 1917 by the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery , Maine . She was launched on 27 August 1919 sponsored by Mrs . Herbert S . Howard , and commissioned on 19 November 1919 with Lieutenant Commander Percy K . Robottom in command . Service . Following acceptance trials , a visit to Havana , Cuba from 14 – 19 January 1920 , and subsequent operations along the Gulf of Mexico and New England coasts , " S - 4 " departed New London , Connecticut on 18 November to rendezvous off New Hampshire with her assigned unit — Submarine Divisions 12 ( SubDiv 12 ) — and SubDiv 18 . The two divisions were about to embark on a historic voyage which , at that time , was to be the longest cruise undertaken by American submarines . Assigned to Submarine Flotilla 3 of the Asiatic Fleet at Cavite in the Philippine Islands , they sailed via the Panama Canal and Pearl Harbor and arrived at Cavite on 1 December 1921 . " S - 4 " operated out of the Cavite Naval Station , with occasional visits to Chinese ports , until late 1924 , when the two divisions were reassigned to the West Coast . Departing Cavite on 29 October , they arrived at Mare Island , California on 30 December . Remaining at Mare Island in 1925 , she operated along the West Coast through 1926 , mainly at San Francisco , San Pedro , and San Diego . She departed Mare Island on 10 February 1927 and sailed to the Panama Canal Zone , where she operated through March – April , then proceeded to New London , Connecticut , arriving on 3 May . For the remainder of the year , she operated off the New England coast . Sinking . On 17 December 1927 , while surfacing from a submerged run over the measured - mile off Cape Cod near Provincetown , Massachusetts , she was accidentally rammed and sunk by the Coast Guard destroyer . " Paulding " stopped and lowered life boats , but found only a small amount of oil and air bubbles . Rescue and salvage operations were commenced , only to be thwarted by severe weather . Heroic efforts were made to rescue six known survivors trapped in the forward torpedo room , who had exchanged a series of signals with divers , by tapping on the hull . As the trapped men used the last of available oxygen in the sub , a diver placed his helmeted ear to the side of the vessel and received this morse - coded message , “ Is … there … any … hope ? ” Sadly , there was no reason for hope and all six men perished . The six men who were trapped were : Despite the best efforts of the rescue team , all were lost . During the course of the rescue operation Chief Gunner ' s Mate Thomas Eadie rescued , at the risk of his own life , a fellow diver who became entangled while attempting to attach an air hose to the " S - 4 " . For his heroism Eadie was awarded the Medal of Honor . " S - 4 " was finally raised on 17 March 1928 , by a salvage effort commanded by Captain Ernest J . King . Several of the salvage divers , including Eadie and Frank W . Crilley , were awarded the Navy Cross for their actions during the operation . The submarine was towed to the Boston Navy Yard for dry - docking and was decommissioned on 19 March . Return . " S - 4 " was recommissioned on 16 October , after repairs and conversion to a test vessel for submarine rescue experimentation . She served at Key West , Florida early in 1929 - 1930 , and in the northeast during the remainder of those years . In 1931 , she operated again at New London until departing there on 3 January 1932 for Pearl Harbor . Sailing via the Panama Canal , she arrived at Pearl Harbor on 29 August . On 7 April 1933 , " S - 4 " was decommissioned and laid up . She was stricken from the Naval Vessel Register on 15 January 1936 and destroyed on 15 May by sinking .