S-4

Notes

USS S-4 (SS-109) served the Navy well for the over 14 years, but her career was marred by at tragic accident that occurred on December 17, 1927. On that date she was conducting submerged trials on the measured mile in Cape Cod Bay off Provincetown, MA. While coming to the surface at the end of the run, she was rammed by the Coast Guard Cutter Paulding (CG-17). S-4 sank immediately with her entire crew, but six men were still alive in the forward torpedo room. A frantic rescue effort followed, but it was not successful and the entire crew perished. The boat was subsequently salvaged and partially reconditioned, but it was not returned to full service. Instead, she was used as a test bed to develop new technologies and techniques for submarine escape, rescue, and salvage. She was finally decommissioned in 1933 and eventually scrapped. Please see this link for a detailed photographic essay of her salvage. The webmasters can also highly recommend this book: Seventeen Fathoms Deep: The Saga of the Submarine S-4 Disaster by historian Joseph A. Williams. The webmasters were happy to act as technical advisors for the book. Mr. Williams wrote an incredible tale of danger, tragedy, perseverance, and ingenuity. You will not be disappointed with this true story.

Exterior Photos

August 27, 1919, S-4 at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, Kittery, ME., about to be launched. She was sponsored by Mrs. Herbert S. Howard, seen here with Admiral Clifford J Boush, Commandant of the Portsmouth yard. Also notable at the launching was the then Assistant Secretary of the Navy, and later President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Photo from the Portsmouth Navy Yard Industrial Department newsletter "Life Buoy", 1919.

S-4 shown alongside at Portsmouth Navy Yard, Christmas Day, 1919. This view is from the bow looking aft towards the gun deck and the conning tower fairwater. Of particular note is the fact that she is still missing her deck gun, even though she has already been commissioned. It will be installed later. A large coil of rope lays where the 4"/50 caliber deck gun will eventually go. On the right is the destroyer USS Israel (DD-98) which is at Portsmouth for conversion to a mine layer. On the left it is thought to be the S-5 (SS-110) which was only a few months behind the S-4 in construction. Interesting to note that both were destined to sunk in accidents.

U.S. Navy photo.

Another topside view of S-4 on Christmas Day, 1919 at Portsmouth. View is from the stern looking forward. The open hatch is to the engine room. On the left is the bow of the destroyer USS Israel (DD-98) which is at Portsmouth for conversion to a mine layer.

U.S. Navy photo.

S-4 underway on trials not long after being commissioned, December 26, 1919. This is probably at the mouth of the Piscataqua River that divides New Hampshire and Maine. The Portsmouth Navy Yard where she was built is out of the frame to the left. Note here that she does not yet have her deck gun installed.

Photo # 19-N-2757 courtesy of NARA.

S-4 alongside at Portsmouth Navy Yard, approximately early 1920. There are two more Government design S-boats alongside her, but their identities are unknown. The crew has done their laundry and have hung it out to dry.

U.S. Navy photo.

S-4 early in her career, approximately 1921. The location unknown, but it is possibly Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

S-4 surfacing after a dive. Date and location is unknown, but this is likely in the mid 1920's. Only the tip of the bow and the conning tower fairwater are clear of the waves. Even the deck gun is still submerged.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

S-4 mooring up to another submarine in Pearl Harbor, Territory of Hawaii, circa May 15, 1921. She was reported to be making active operations at Pearl Harbor on that date being referenced in the logbook of the USS Celtic (AF-2), a refrigerated stores ship. The Celtic reported passing the S-4 exiting Pearl Harbor as the Celtic was making to enter the harbor on that date.

Several auxiliary mine warfare vessels can be seen in the background. One is most likely to be the USS Lapwing (AM-1), engaged in mine sweeping operations in Hawaiian waters from January 1921 until she decommissioned April 11, 1922. The other is most likely the USS Oriole (AM-7), who was also decommissioned in 1922 on May 3rd. Both were decommissioned due to the Washington Treaty B terms.

The S-4 sailed with SubDiv 12, and SubDiv 18 from Portsmouth, NH for Cavite in the Philippines on November 18, 1920 and arrived, via the Panama Canal, at Pearl Harbor on April 15, 1921. They departed Pearl Harbor on November 3, 1921 for Cavite, arriving December 1, 1921.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

S-4 in dry dock in Hawaii circa May - October 1921. She is shown here along with the tender USS Alert (AS-4) and at least one more submarine. The other boat's stern planes are visible in the upper right. There are most likely two more submarines in the dock with them but are not shown.

Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

S-4 shown in a Philippine port, possibly Cavite, circa 1922. Her torpedo loading skid is raised on the forward deck, indicating that the may be coming alongside to take on new torpedoes.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

S-4 alongside the submarine tender USS Holland (AS-3) for routine work. A chain has been run under the bow of the S-4, and using a purpose-built hoisting system built into the clipper bow of the Holland, the S-4's bow is being raised for maintenance work most probably on the torpedo tube shutter doors or tube outer doors.

In this circa 1926/27 photo you can see that the bow has already been raised about three to four feet judging by the marine growth seen on the hull. Location is either San Diego or Panama, the S-4 was in both locations with the Holland prior to her move to the east coast.

U.S. Navy photo.

A photo from another angle showing the S-4 having her bow raised by the tender Holland, circa 1926/1927, probably in San Diego or Panama. To ease the lifting operation, the S-4 would have partially flooded down her after ballast tanks. Care had to be taken to avoid the boat slipping from the chains and submerging enough to flood the boat through open forward hatches.

U.S. Navy photo.

Post-sinking career

In the aftermath of the S-4's sinking and salvage, she was partially refurbished at the Boston Navy Yard and returned to limited service as a salvage, escape, and rescue training ship. Her engines had been immobilized so she had to be towed to various training locales. She was purposely sunk and recovered many times, training divers in the skills they would be called upon to affect an actual salvage.

This photo shows her with a large prototype escape trunk installed over the engine room hatch. The photo date is circa 1929. This trunk was one half of the former airplane hangar from the S-1 (SS-105). The other half was used in the development of the McCann Rescue Chamber.

All escape trunks on USN boats from the fleet boats up through the post WWII diesel fast attacks have a door in the side. This is done so that a bubble of air is trapped at the top of the trunk during the escape process. This enables the group of escapees to keep their head out of the water as each of them exits the boat one at a time. Once the trunk is equalized to the surrounding water pressure the side door is opened to facilitate the escape, but the lip between the top of the trunk and the top of the side door retains the air bubble. Once the last of the group exits the boat, the remaining crew inside the torpedo room shuts the side door hydraulically, pumps down the trunk, and equalizes it with the interior pressure, thus enabling the lower hatch to be opened and a new group of escapees to enter the trunk.

Notice how the top of the trunk is flared out slightly. In the case of a McCann chamber rescue, this creates a seating surface for the chamber to seal onto. Of course, the side door would stay closed in this case because the trunk would stay dry the whole time.

The S-4's trunk was experimental in nature and was larger than the ones installed in later boats, but is was essentially the same. Imagine a slightly smaller version of this trunk buried down inside the superstructure of the much larger fleet boats and you will get the picture.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

A close up of the S-4's aft deck and the new escape trunk, circa 1929.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Students from the U.S. Navy Submarine School in New London are assembled on the deck of the recently salvaged S-4, now used as a training boat. They are learning the use of the Momsen Lung escape device under the tutelage of co-inventor Lieutenant Charles B. "Swede" Momsen. Photo is dated September 1929 and was used in a newspaper story.

Swede Momsen was assigned to the Submarine Base in 1929 instructing men in the lung's use after conducting extensive experiments himself and with Chief Gunner's Mate Clarence L. Tibbals and Frank M. Hobson, a civilian Navy employee, in the development of the device.

The sinking of the S-51 and later the S-4, (which had six men alive in the bow torpedo room for three days), deeply effected Momsen. Being a submariner himself he knew very well what this meant. If a sunken submarine could not be immediately raised to the surface, death was the only alternative to a trapped crew.

With the loss of these crews, he was driven to find some way for the sailors to escape from a sunken submarine. With the aid of the two men named above the Submarine Escape Lung was perfected. The newspapers began calling it the Momsen Lung despite the Navy's best efforts to correct them. The Momsen Lung remained in service until 1962 when it was replaced by the Steinke Hood.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Lieutenant Charles B. "Swede" Momsen, a brilliant inventor, engineer, and master submariner. He is a Submarine Force legend and is well regarded even to this day.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

S-4 circa 1936, Mare Island Navy Yard, Vallejo, CA. She was at the end of her long but tragic life, awaiting scrapping. This may be one of the very last photos taken of the S-4 before she was taken out and scuttled. The submarine sitting alongside is most likely the USS S-19 (SS-124) decommissioned and awaiting use as a target. S-19 had been damaged in a ground years earlier, and although repaired apparently suffered from after effects of the grounding for the rest of her life. She was one of the S-boats decommissioned under the auspices of the Washington Naval Treaty, despite the fact that most of her EB design sisters being retained.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

A close up of the above 1936 photo, showing S-4's conning tower fairwater and unique escape trunk.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

This close up shows the deteriorated condition of S-4's forward deck, circa 1936. Years of salvage training had taken their toll, and the superstructure and deck show real signs of wear. A salvage chain is wrapped around the former gun mount for the deck gun, long removed.

Original photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

A walkthrough of the S-4 interior, December 25, 1919.

These photos (with one exception) were all taken on the same day, Christmas 1919 while the boat was moored at the Portsmouth Navy Yard in Kittery, ME. They are a great representation of the interior of a Government design S-boat. They would be typical of all 19 of those boats, with some variations due to group and builder.

Click here for these photos.

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