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The Squalus Disaster: The History of the Dramatic Rescue Operation on a Sunken Submarine
It takes a special type of person to serve in a nation’s navy, especially on long voyages that separate men and women from their loved ones, and no service is both loved and hated as that aboard submarines, for very few people ever serve on them on a whim. For one thing, the psychological impact of being trapped for long periods underwater in tight, cramped quarters is more than many people can stand. Also, submarine service is uncharacteristically hazardous; after all, if a surface vessel is sunk, the crew has a reasonable chance of escaping death in lifeboats or being rescued out of the water by another ship. Conversely, if a submarine is badly damaged while submerged, the crew’s chances of survival are at best remote.
Given that there’s such little margin for error in a submersible, many submarine losses remain sources of intrigue and mystery, but in American history, few rival the tragedy and drama aboard the Squalus in 1939. On May 23 of that year, the Squalus, one of the U.S. Navy’s newest submarines, was undertaking the latest in a series of test dives off the coast of New Hampshire. She had been commissioned less than three months before and represented the cutting-edge of new submarine technology. Provided with eight torpedo tubes and a three-inch deck gun, Squalus had a range of over 11,000 miles and was capable of running at over 20 knots on the surface. This was a formidable warship, and the test dives undertaken in May were a routine part of preparing the submarine for service.
After successfully completing a series of dives over the previous days, on the 23rd, the Squalus undertook practice for one of the most challenging maneuvers, a rapid dive performed while the sub was running at full speed on the surface. This was a vital procedure if the submarine was attacked unexpectedly by an aircraft or surface ship - it had to be able to dive quickly in any circumstances. This practice ensured that the crew, and the submarine, were fully prepared.
Tragically, during this test dive, the unthinkable the rear section of Squalus flooded, and the submarine, without power, began to sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. 26 men in the rear compartments died in the flooding, but 33 men in the forward compartments were still alive as Squalus came to rest on the ocean floor almost 250 feet below the surface.
The outlook for these men was bleak. They had only a limited supply of air and faced increasingly bitter cold. The crew was provided with escape “lungs,” breathing gear that could enable them to escape from a disabled submarine, but this gear was only safe to use at 200 feet or less below the surface. Put simply, nobody had ever attempted a rescue from this depth, and there seemed no way to bring the submarine to the surface before its air supply ran out.
The situation seemed hopeless to everyone but one naval officer, Lieutenant Commander Charles B. "Swede" Momsen. Momsen had been responsible for the development of the escape lungs used on Squalus (and on virtually every other American submarine) and knew their limitations. However, Momsen had been working on the development of a rescue chamber intended to extract trapped submariners from depths of up to 300 feet. This new device had only recently been completed and had never been used in a real rescue, but as time ran out for the men trapped on Squalus, their only hope was that Momsen and his new creation could somehow carry out a miraculous rescue.
Given that there’s such little margin for error in a submersible, many submarine losses remain sources of intrigue and mystery, but in American history, few rival the tragedy and drama aboard the Squalus in 1939. On May 23 of that year, the Squalus, one of the U.S. Navy’s newest submarines, was undertaking the latest in a series of test dives off the coast of New Hampshire. She had been commissioned less than three months before and represented the cutting-edge of new submarine technology. Provided with eight torpedo tubes and a three-inch deck gun, Squalus had a range of over 11,000 miles and was capable of running at over 20 knots on the surface. This was a formidable warship, and the test dives undertaken in May were a routine part of preparing the submarine for service.
After successfully completing a series of dives over the previous days, on the 23rd, the Squalus undertook practice for one of the most challenging maneuvers, a rapid dive performed while the sub was running at full speed on the surface. This was a vital procedure if the submarine was attacked unexpectedly by an aircraft or surface ship - it had to be able to dive quickly in any circumstances. This practice ensured that the crew, and the submarine, were fully prepared.
Tragically, during this test dive, the unthinkable the rear section of Squalus flooded, and the submarine, without power, began to sink to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. 26 men in the rear compartments died in the flooding, but 33 men in the forward compartments were still alive as Squalus came to rest on the ocean floor almost 250 feet below the surface.
The outlook for these men was bleak. They had only a limited supply of air and faced increasingly bitter cold. The crew was provided with escape “lungs,” breathing gear that could enable them to escape from a disabled submarine, but this gear was only safe to use at 200 feet or less below the surface. Put simply, nobody had ever attempted a rescue from this depth, and there seemed no way to bring the submarine to the surface before its air supply ran out.
The situation seemed hopeless to everyone but one naval officer, Lieutenant Commander Charles B. "Swede" Momsen. Momsen had been responsible for the development of the escape lungs used on Squalus (and on virtually every other American submarine) and knew their limitations. However, Momsen had been working on the development of a rescue chamber intended to extract trapped submariners from depths of up to 300 feet. This new device had only recently been completed and had never been used in a real rescue, but as time ran out for the men trapped on Squalus, their only hope was that Momsen and his new creation could somehow carry out a miraculous rescue.
68 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 7, 2025
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