Hill - Under pressure: the final voyage of submarine s-five

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Copyright 2002 by A. J. Hill

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hill, A. J. (Alvin Joseph)

Under pressure : the final voyage of Submarine S-5 / A. J. Hill.

p. cm.

Includes index.

1. S-5 (Submarine) 2. Cooke, Charles Maynard. 3. Submarine disastersUnited States. 4. Search and rescue operationsAtlantic Ocean. I. Title.

VA65.S15 H54 2002

910.916346dc21 2002071271

ISBN 0-7432-3677-7

eISBN-13: 978-0-743-24376-6

ISBN 978-0-743-23677-5

The photograph of Midshipman Cooke (Figure 1) appears courtesy of Maynard Horiuchi.

The following photographs appear courtesy of the Naval Historical Foundation, Washington, D.C.: Figure 2, Figure 12, and Figure 13.

The schematic of the S-Five (Figure 3) was created by the author.

All remaining photographs appear courtesy of the National Archives at College Park, Maryland.

This book is dedicated to my wife, Marcy; my daughter, Christie; and my son, Aaron.

Contents

Prologue

Eternal father strong to save
Whose arm hath bound the restless wave,
Who biddst the mighty ocean deep
Its own appointed limits keep,
O hear us when we cry to Thee
For those in peril on the sea.

WILLIAM WHITING

SEPTEMBER 1, 1920, 13:30LAT. 38.30 N, LON. 74.03 W.

Fifty miles off the coast of New Jersey, United States Submarine S-Five cruised southwestward, forging steadily through white-capped seas that broke against her starboard side and rolled across her low wooden deck. On the open bridge atop her conning tower Lt. Commander Charles Savvy Cooke steadied himself against the forward gunwale, lifted his binoculars and scanned the horizon. The powerful glasses showed only empty ocean and long green swells sweeping out of the north.

It was a fine late summer day, clear and bright with a hint of fall in the air. Slanting down between high scattered clouds, sunlight sparkled from the waves and made rainbows in the spray over the S-Fives foredeck. Savvy had sent the lookout below, so he had the bridge to himself. As he gazed out across the wide Atlantic, with the wind in his hair and the sunlight warming his shoulders, he felt happier than he had in a long time. The war against Germany was now more than a year in the past, but it had created lasting domestic problems in the United States. Instead of a heros welcome, many returning servicemen had found only inflation and rampant unemployment; but these hardships hadnt affected Savvy. Instead, the wars end had released him from a long and unwelcome tour of shore duty. Back at sea now and in command of his own boat, he was content or almost so.

It had been nearly a year since hed last seen his children. He could still picture them on the day hed said goodbye, standing beside their grandmother in the doorway of the little farmhouse in Arkansas and looking up at him with their mothers wide blue eyes. Anne, the younger one, had clung to him tearfully, her usually cheerful face twisted with sorrow, but Temple had held back, staring up at him in silent reproach. Shed been only a year old when her mother died, too young to understand the tragedy, but old enough sense the loss. Her look haunted Savvy now, as he stood on the S-Fives bridge watching waves march across the sea.

A high-pitched whistle pierced his reverie. Pulling himself back to the present, he looked down through the open hatchway into the steering compartment that formed the bulk of the conning tower.

Yes, helmsman?

Control room calling, Sir, the helmsman responded. Mr. Grisham reports speed run complete, hatches secure, and vents closed. All stations manned and ready.

Lieutenant Grisham was the subs executive officer. Savvy had been waiting for his report. Lifting the binoculars again, he checked the sea one last time. Nothing had changed. No sails were visible, no smoke trails marred the clean arc of the horizon. Stowing the glasses in their watertight case below the gunwale, he removed a stopwatch from the pocket of his windbreaker and carefully set the hands to zero. Then he bent down to the hatch, raised his voice over the noise of wind and waves, and shouted, Dive! Dive! At the same moment he triggered the stopwatch and shoved it back into his pocket. The time was 1:53.

A klaxon began blaring inside the sub. Savvy stooped, grabbed the hatch rim, and in one fluid motion swung himself down through it. The hatch cover jerked back and forth several times, then slammed shut. Moments later waves began breaking over the conning tower as the S-Five slipped below the surface. Within less than a minute after Savvys order the submarine had vanished, slanting silently down into the cool green depths at a speed of more than ten knots.

Two and a half minutes later, still traveling at high speed, the S-Five plowed into the sea floor 180 feet below. Rebounding through a cloud of sand and silt, she struck again, and this time buried her nose in the bottom. Her propellers spun to a halt. The water around her cleared. From various places along her hull, lines of bubbles and thin streamers of oil wavered up toward the distant surface. Otherwise, nothing moved.

1
THE BEGINNING

I saw the new moon late yestreen
Wi the auld moon in her arm;
And if we gang to sea, master,
I fear well come to harm.

TRADITIONAL BALLAD

MONDAY, AUGUST 30, 1920, 12:00BOSTON NAVY YARD.

At noon on Monday, August 30, United States Submarine S-Five edged away from her berth at the old Boston Navy Yard in Charlestown and with her engines barely idling glided down the Mystic River into Bostons Outer Harbor. By mid-afternoon she had passed the high granite tower of the Minots Ledge Lighthouse and headed out to sea. As soon as she was clear of land, her commanding officer ordered a dive to trim up or balance the sub. This was required at the beginning of every cruise in order to compensate for any changes in weight since the subs last time out.

It was an exciting day for the forty officers and enlisted men on board the S-Five; after a summer filled with training exercises they were finally setting out on their first genuine mission. According to the itinerary that they had received with their orders in August, they would spend the next four weeks traveling from port to port as part of a Navy campaign to attract ex-servicemen to its growing submarine fleet. By Friday, September 3, they were scheduled to arrive in Baltimore, Maryland. After spending five days on display there, theyd continue down the east coast with similar stops in Washington, Richmond, and Savannah before rejoining their flotilla in Boston at the end of September.