By Michael E. Haskew

It was a problem the U.S. Navy thought they had solved after several deadly incidents during the pre-World War II evolution of its submarine service—the frightening situation of a submerged submarine taking on water.

Built in the Portsmouth Navy Yard in New Hampshire, the USS Squalus had been commissioned on March 1, 1939. The submarine had completed 18 test dives in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast when the failure of its main induction valve led to disaster. Water poured in during the 19th dive, flooding the aft torpedo room, both engine rooms, and the crew quarters and swiftly drowning 26 sailors. Earlier such accidents had plagued the service, including notable incidents involving USS Sturgeon and USS Snapper.

Eventually these issues finally would really be solved and the prospect of a recurrence was minimized. But on May 23, 1939, the lives of the remaining 33 men aboard Squalus hung in the balance. During the frantic rescue operation that ensued, USS Sculpin, the Sargo-class sister of Squalus, located the sunken submarine. The two craft were able to communicate for a while via telephone marker buoy, but rough currents severed the line while the rescue was in progress.

As precious time slipped away, Lieutenant Commander Charles B. “Swede” Momsen led the recovery effort that saved the lives of the men trapped aboard Squalus. Momsen and company utilized the relatively new McCann rescue chamber to complete the operation. In the process, the diving techniques employed also validated theories regarding nitrogen narcosis, a syndrome marked by the anesthetic effects of prolonged deep dives. Four enlisted diving experts participating in the rescue received the Medal of Honor for their heroism.

In the wake of the rescue and salvage operation that followed, Squalus was repaired and refitted, renamed USS Sailfish, and returned to service with commissioning on May 15, 1940. Following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, both Sailfish and Sculpin went to war. The heroic Sculpin would make nine war patrols before it was scuttled by its crew after severe damage in action with enemy destroyers on November 19, 1943.

It is worthy of mention, however, that Sailfish also went on to deliver commendable wartime service. Interestingly, its commanding officers prohibited the mention of the word “Squalus” and meted out punishment to those sailors who violated the order. Meanwhile, Sailfish attacked, struck hard, missed opportunities, dove deep, and recorded victories through the course of a dozen combat patrols from December 1941 through December 1944.

Sailfish was credited with sinking seven Japanese vessels, both merchantmen and warships, most notably the aircraft carrier Chuyo. Ironically, the enemy carrier was transporting 21 survivors of the Sculpin captured during the submarine’s final encounter. Sadly, 20 of these men perished. By the end of World War II, Sailfish had sunk more than 40,000 tons of Japanese shipping and earned nine battle stars and a Presidential Unit Citation.

Up from the depths of the Atlantic, the resurrected Squalus had gone on to render outstanding service in the Pacific War, while the deaths of the prisoners aboard Chuyo offer a tragically ironic postscript to the Sailfish relationship with its sister hero submarine USS Sculpin. After the war, Sailfish was decommissioned on October 27, 1945. Efforts to preserve the submarine in its entirety as a monument failed, but the conning tower was preserved at the Portsmouth Navy Yard, dedicated in 1946 as a memorial to the crewmen lost in a six-year career as both Squalus and Sailfish.

The rest of the veteran Sailfish hulk was sold for scrap in 1948.

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