S-51 salvage

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A short collection of newsreel clips highlighting the S-51 disaster. Most of the scenes were shot during the initial search and rescue phase. There is a beautiful shot of S-51 underway at the beginning, and sister boat S-50 makes a brief appearance too.

Video from the YouTube British Pathé channel.

This photo was taken in June 1926 during the initial lifting phases of the S-51's wreck. All of the sub's internal compartments except one (the battery room) had been closed up and dewatered. Pontoons had been attached via chains to several points on the S-51's hull and these were used to provide the extra buoyancy needed to get the boat to the surface. The first lift attempt did not go well and several of the pontoons slid out of position and the team needed to try again. In this photo the very tip of the S-51's bow can be seen above the waterline as the salvage crews scramble to stabilize the unwieldly pontoons.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

This photo was taken on July 7, 1926 as the water was being pumped out of the drydock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The S-51 had been successfully lifted from the bottom of Block Island Sound, towed through Long Island Sound supported by the pontoons, and down the East River alongside Manhattan. The sub's deck is just becoming visible and four of the lifting pontoons can be seen floating in the dock with the sub. There is a note on the photo indicating where the boat was struck by the steamship City of Rome. The sub's bridge structure has been heavily damaged during the salvage operations.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Another photo taken at nearly the same time as the one above, showing details of the conning tower fairwater. The S-51's name can just be made out on the side. There is a profusion of chains, lines, and hoses draping the sub.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

The S-51 sitting on the blocks in drydock at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, New York City, July 7, 1926. Two of the pontoons can be seen beyond the bow. Air hoses and lines are draped over the hull. Her stern torpedo tube can be seen just above the rudder, which is turned to starboard. Her starboard side stern diving plane is turned to full rise, likely due to the salvage operations.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

The bow of S-51, showing heavy damage the wreck sustained during the tow to the Brooklyn Navy Yard. While in transit of the East River, the towing force unintentionally grounded the partially submerged S-51 and her pontoons on Man-O'-War Rock, near the southern tip of Roosevelt Island, directly adjacent to the site of the present-day United Nations building. It took considerable effort to free her so that the tow to the yard could continue. During this operation, a portion of the superstructure plating at the bow was torn off. The shutter doors of the four bow torpedo tubes can also be seen. Lifting chains and one of the cylindrical pontoons can be seen on the left.

Today, Man-O'-War Rock is known as U Thant Island (a.k.a. Belmont Island) and has a small navigation range marker erected on it.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Another view of the damage to S-51's bow. The structural ribs inside the forward superstructure are exposed. The tip of the bow is gone, this is where one of the towing hawsers was attached prior to the grounding. The towing fairlead located there was destroyed during the attempt to get the wreck off of Man-O'-War Rock in the East River.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

A closeup of the photo above, showing details of the S-51's forward superstructure. The words "Bow Plane Keep Clear" is a warning to a tugboat crew to avoid tying up to that area, as the starboard side bow diving plane is directly below (out of view in this picture). One of the pontoon lifting chains is made up to an attachment point by the anchor. For some reason, there are three pairs of high top shoes sitting on the forward deck.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

Another closeup showing a dockyard worker untangling the myriad lines draping the hull.

USN photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

This photo shows the reason for the S-51's loss. The steamship City of Rome struck her on the port side in the battery compartment at approximately a 45 degree angle from astern. S-51 was a double hull boat, meaning that she had an outer hull wrapped around the inner pressure hull, with the void spaces between the two hulls making up ballast and fuel tanks. The City of Rome struck the boat hard enough to penetrate both of the hulls. The impact must have been tremendous.

International Newsreel photo in the private collection of Ric Hedman.

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