R-14 was involved in one of the most unusual incidents in U.S. Submarine Force history. In May, 1921 R-14 and several of her sister boats were assigned to an emergency search and rescue operation to locate for the missing fleet tug USS Conestoga (AT-54), believed to be in the waters east of Hawaii. Towards the end of the 10 day operation, R-14 ran out of fuel while still 140 miles east of the big island of Hawaii. As luck would have it, her radio was out of commission as well so they couldn't call for help. The crew banded together, discussed the problem, and decided to raise sails! By sewing together canvas hammocks and blankets they were able to raise enough sail to move at about two knots. They eventually made it to Hilo where they rendezvoused with R-12 (SS-89) and took on enough fuel to get back to Pearl Harbor. It was a triumph of ingenuity, innovation, and perseverance. Webmasters Ric Hedman and David Johnston have written a book that thoroughly examines the incident. We would appreciate it if you would give it a read. You will enjoy it. Please see this link for more information.
Ric Hedman was gifted a set of photos from the family of Raymond Suess, a crewmember of the R-14 at the time of the sailing incident. Many of the photos below come from that collection, most of which can not be found anywhere else. They are an amazing look into the lives of the average submariner in 1921.
General Photos
R-14 alongside at an unknown location. The background looks like Groton, CT., so this could be shortly after her commissioning in 1919 as she was preparing to transfer to the Pacific. On the other hand, the white diamond on her periscope shears is indicative of her time in Hawaii.
Photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman
R-14 and one of her sister boats sitting idly by off the rugged mountains of Oahu, circa 1921.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
R-14 in drydock at Pearl Harbor, 1921. In the drydock with R-14 is an Eagle-class patrol vessel, just barely in view on the far left. The R-class needed frequent and thorough maintenance in order to stay operational, and this process was never-ending.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
R-14's starboard bow seen in drydock with both of the outer shutter doors for the tubes in the open position. The standard Navy stockless anchor is normally housed in the recess just forward of the bow planes, but in this photo it has been removed for maintenance. The R-class were of riveted construction, and a few dozen of the thousands of rivets that held her together are visible here.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
A wider shot of the bow taken from the drydock wall, 1921. A few of the buildings of the shipyard can be seen in the background. Naval Station Pearl Harbor and the shipyard were still under construction when the R-boats were moved there, and conditions were still a little primitive.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
R-14's stern while in drydock at Pearl Harbor, 1921. This shows her axially mounted rudder and diving planes, and the original design for the aft superstructure "skeg" that ran down from the deck to the rudder. Note the extensive system of keel blocks used to support the hull while in the dock.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
This is a very interesting photo that directly illustrates the changes in opinion towards safety that has taken place over the last 100 years. In an operation that would make a modern day NAVOSH or OSHA inspector cringe, a lone sailor is working on the rigged out bow plane while the boat is underway in the channel of Pearl Harbor. No safety harness, no safety lines, no assistant to grab him if he falls. Just a slight wrong movement and he would be in the water, and with the boat moving forward it would be likely that he would be sucked into the whirling propellers before anyone could stop it. Even in 1921 it had to have been known that this was fraught with danger, yet it was considered an acceptable risk. Not today!
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Crew Photos, 1921
Photo courtesy of usna1917.com
Photo courtesy of Katie Gallemore Eliot
On the left is Midshipman Alexander Dean Douglas, 1917. As a Lieutenant, he would be the Acting Commanding Officer of the R-14 in May, 1921. On the right is Ensign Roy Trent Gallemore, who as a Lieutenant teamed with Douglas as the only other officer aboard the R-14 during the sailing incident. Both men performed brilliantly during that time, despite the mistakes made that lead up to it. Both men went on to have distinguished careers.
Chief Gunner's Mate (Torpedo) Harry E. Woodworth of Omaha, NE. Woodworth was the Chief of the Boat (COB) for the R-14 in 1921, the senior enlisted man aboard and the principal enlisted advisor to the commanding officer. He was the boat's "get-it-done" man, directing the daily activities of the enlisted crew. He was experienced and tough, but well-liked and respected.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Fireman 2nd Class Patrick J. Sullivan posing for Raymond Suess's camera. Pearl Harbor, 1921.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Electrician 2nd Class (G) Valoris E. Fields, relaxing near the R-14's deck gun. Fields was in the infirmary ashore with a minor illness and thus did not make the May 02-17, 1921 underway period in which R-14 raised sails.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Gunner's Mate 1st Class John J. Dorsey and Gunner's Mate 1st Class Winfield E. Bridges of the R-14 on the pier at Submarine Base Pearl Harbor, 1921. Bridges is engaged in one of the never-ending tasks for a sailor of the day, washing clothes. This was done in a bucket with the uniform laid out on a bench erected on the pier for scrubbing. This photo is illustrative of the many different types of clothes worn by the crews of these early submarines. The environment aboard these boats was very hard on uniforms, so the crews tended to wear whatever they could find while working on the boat, preserving the expensive uniforms for formal in-port functions.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
The originator of many of these wonderful R-14 photos, Seaman 1st Class Raymond R. Suess of Minneapolis, Minnesota. His grandson Robert gifted Ric Hedman an album that contained these photos. We are eternally grateful to the Suess family for these incredible pictures.
Note: The photo appears to show a rather nasty looking scar on Suess's left cheek. We do not know if this was real, or if this is an artificial effect of a 100 year old photo.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Raymond Suess standing next to the R-14's 3"/50 caliber Mk 6 gun, 1921. As a rated Seaman, Suess would have likely been on the gun crew, perhaps as a loader or hot shell man.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Ray Suess and several of his shipmates on the pier at Pearl Harbor, 1920 or 1921. What they are doing is not clear, but one may in the background is holding a fish.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Interior Photos
A view of R-14's torpedo tubes with the associated closed breech doors and air piping. The tubes were fired by a impulse of high pressure air injected into the tube near this breech door. This pushed the weapon out of the tube and got it started on its way to the target.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
This is the forward end of the R-14's control room, with the helm wheel on the right and the high pressure air manifold in the middle.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Another view of the control room looking forward, with the helm wheel on the right, the air manifold in the middle, and the bow planes operating wheel on the left.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Another view of the bow and stern planes operating wheels on the port side of the R-14's control room. The ladder to the conning tower is partially obscuring the stern planes wheel on the left. The bow diving planes were used to control the depth of the boat, and the stern planes regulated the up or down angle of the boat.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
This equipment is on the aft port side of the R-14's control room and is used by an Electrician to control the amount of power that is going to the electric motors, thus regulating the speed of the boat. On the bulkhead below the panel are the two engine order telegraphs.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
For this photo, disregard the notation at the top. This is actually the trim and drain manifold, used to move ballast water to various tanks in order to keep the boat balanced. It is also used to line up valves to pump the bilges.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Another view from farther back of the trim and drain manifold. It is located in the forward starboard corner of the control room. The rectangular box above it is the controller for the trim pump, and to the left is a flag locker for the Quartermaster's use.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
This closeup of the photo above shows details of the flag locker. Different signal flags are rolled up in their cubby holes. Signal flags were a primary means of short range communications in those days.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
The Sailing Incident
This is an exclusive illustration for PigBoats.COM by artist and historian Jim Christley, showing the sail rig as devised by the R-14's crew on May 12-13, 1921. It was made out of blankets and canvas hammocks sewn together with leather laces and marline, then lashed to yardarms made out of metal pipe bunk frames. The yardarms were hoisted to two makeshift masts made out of the torpedo loading crane, with the mainsail hoisted to the radio mast. All in all it provided about two knots of speed and this got them back to safety in Hilo. It was a masterstroke of ingenuity and innovative thinking.
Illustration by Jim Christley. MAY NOT be used without permission.
This is the only known photo of the R-14 with her sails raised. The actual photographer is unknown, but it is suspected to be the Chief Engineer and Executive Officer Lt. Roy Gallemore. The mainsail can be seen lashed to the raised radio mast, and the mizzen sail can be seen behind the fairwater with part of the makeshift yardarm visible. The foremast and sail were out of view behind the photographer. Apparently, once they returned to port several prints of the photo were made and handed out to crewmen that wanted one. One of the prints made it to the National Archives, but this particular print came from the family of Ray Suess, and Ric Hedman has it in his personal collection. (see below). Ray Suess is seen leaning against the rail on the right, munching an apple. The acting CO, Lt. Douglas, is seen on the bridge on the far left, not wearing a hat. The rest of the crew shown are not identified.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
A closeup of Ray Suess from the sailing photo, dressed casually and lightly, and barefooted. It was oppressively hot below decks, as they could not spare the battery power to run the ventilation fans. While they were under sail, Douglas allowed the crew to come up on deck to cool off and to relax as much as possible.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Lt. Alexander Dean Douglas, known simply as "Dean" to his friends, was the acting commanding officer of the R-14 in May, 1921. Despite making a few mistakes leading up to running out of fuel, Douglas and Gallemore provided outstanding leadership and guidance to the crew and got them back home safely.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
A sailor sitting on the forward edge of the conning tower fairwater reading a book. The 3"/50 caliber gun's barrel is pointing right between his legs.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
A photo of the actual copy of the sailing photo given to Ric Hedman by the Suess Family. It is quite small and required quite a bit of careful restoration.
A Ric Hedman photo.
Upon her triumphant arrival in Hilo, Hawaii under "canvas" on May 15, 1921, the crew of R-14 relaxed an put their boat back into proper trim by putting the bunks back together and cleaning the ship. On May 16, sister boat R-12 (SS-89) arrived in Hilo with fuel and provisions, which were quickly transferred. Both boats got underway the same day and headed back to Pearl Harbor. This picture was snapped aboard R-14 during that return trip. The photographer was on the bridge looking forward. The partially raised #1 periscope can be seen in the foreground, with the magnetic compass binnacle forward of that. On the left is the head of one of the bridge watchstanders, covered by a foul-weather cap. The bridge was small and cramped and provided little protection from the weather. The black speck near the horizon is the R-12.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
A look aft along the R-14's starboard side during the return trip from Hilo. The R-12 can be seen in the background. Notice the plethora of rivets, the primary joinery method used for her construction. Welding was not yet in use by the Navy.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
Photo taken most likely during the R-14's return trip to Pearl Harbor from Hilo. This view is from the bridge, looking aft down the starboard side. In the foreground are several unidentified crewmen, although the Suess family wrote in a callout for Raymond Suess. Chief Electrician's Mate Joseph H. Hearne is standing on the aft deck near the engine room hatch. Hearne developed a brilliant idea of charging the batteries while the props windmilled in the water with the boat under sail. That allowed the battery to remain at a full charge so that it could be used once they arrived at Hilo Harbor.
Photo courtesy of Robert Suess and the Suess Family, now in the private collection of Ric Hedman.
R-14 crewmen gather for an informal photo, May 1921. Top row, left to right: Gunner's Mate 2nd Class Joseph S. Ruchas, Seaman Henry D. Wilkinson, Machinist Mate 1st Class Walter D. Kaessner, and Seaman James C. Russell. Front row, left to right: Chief Electrician's Mate Joseph H. Hearne, Gottlieb (first name and rate unknown), Electrician 3rd Class Percy J. Foren, and Machinist Mate 1st Class Dennis P. Wrenn. Wrenn eventually married into the Gallemore family (the boat's Executive Officer), and Gottlieb is not on any of the muster rolls in the possession of the webmasters. He was most likely only temporarily assigned to R-14. Wilkinson would have a long career, serving all the way through the end of WWII. Submarine life in the 1920's was hot, sweaty, and dirty, and it was difficult to maintain clean and orderly uniforms. Many unofficial photos from this period show crews in the "disheveled" state. It would be a mistake to equate that appearance to unprofessionalism.
Photo courtesy of Katie Gallemore Eliot.
Another crew photo, with many of the same men as above. The exception is the man in the back row on the left. He is Radioman 1st Class Raymond D. Waldron. His radio set was continuously acting up during the sailing voyage, preventing word of their plight from getting back to the Division in Pearl Harbor. He kept at it though, and just prior to their arrival in Hilo he succeeded in getting the word out.
Photo courtesy of Katie Gallemore Eliot.
Newspaper clippings in the possession of Ric Hedman that describe the sailing incident. Once the boat arrived in Hilo unexpectedly, it generated a lot of interest amongst the local population in Hilo, including the newspapers. Wire stories went out, and many papers across the country carried the story. Which papers these came from is not known. Click on each for a larger, readable version.
