Submarine USS O-9 (SS-70)

Submarine USS O-9 (SS-70) was authorized to be built by the United States Congressional Act of 3 March 1915, which stated in part:

"...Two submarines to be of seagoing type to have a surface speed of twenty-five knots or more if possible, but not less than twenty knots, to cost, exclusive of armor and armament, not exceeding $1,500,000 each, and sixteen submarines to cost, exclusive of armor and armament, not exceeding $550,000 each, and the sum of $4,090,000 is here-by appropriated for said purpose to be available until expended.

. . . . .

"Five of the submarine torpedo boats herein authorized shall be built on the Pacific coast: PROVIDED, That the cost of construction on the Pacific coast does not exceed the cost of construction on the Atlantic coast plus the cost of transportation from the Atlantic to the Pacific..."

The keel of USS O-9 (SS-70) was laid down on 15 February 1917 by the Fore River Shipbuilding Company at Quincy, Massachusetts ... under a subcontract from the Electric Boat Company of New York.

The submarine was christened by Mrs. Frederick J. Sherman and launched on 27 January 1918; and commissioned on 27 July 1918 with Lieutenant Oliver M. Read, Junior, in command.

When commissioned, the O-1 Class coastal and harbor defense submarine was 172'4" in length overall; had an extreme beam of 18'; had a normal surface displacement of 521 tons, and, when in that condition, had a mean draft of 14'5". Submerged displacement was 629 tons. The submarine was of riveted construction. The designed compliment was two officers and twenty-seven enlisted men. The boat could operate safely to depths of 200 feet. The submarine was armed with four 18-inch torpedo tubes installed in the bow. Eight torpedoes were carried. One 3-inch/23 caliber deck gun was installed. The gun was stowed below the superstructure deck when not in use. The full load of diesel oil carried was 21,897 gallons, which fueled 880 designed brake horsepower diesel engines manufactured by the New London Ship and Engine Company at Groton, Connecticut, which could drive the boat at fourteen knots on the surface in a relatively calm sea. Submerged propulsion was provided by a 120-cell main storage battery ... manufactured by the Electric Storage Battery Company (EXIDE) at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania ... which powered 740 designed brake horsepower main propulsion electric motors manufactured by the Electro Dynamic Company at Bayonne, New Jersey ... which turned propeller shafts ... which turned propellers...which could drive the submarine at 10.5 knots for a short period of time when operating beneath the surface of the sea. Slower submerged speeds resulted in greater endurances before the batteries needed to be recharged by the engines and generators.

During the final months of World War I, USS O-9 (SS-70) operated on coastal patrol and protected the Atlantic coast from enemy German U-boats.

USS O-9 departed Newport, Rhode Island, on 2 November 1918 for European waters; but the termination of World War I hostilities on 11 November 1918 brought the twenty-submarine group, of which USS O-9 was a unit, back to the United States before they reached the Azores.

Following the termination of World War I, USS O-9 continued in active naval service and trained submarine crews at the Submarine School at the United States Naval Submarine Base at New London/Groton, Connecticut.

Proceeding to Coco Solo in the Panama Canal Zone in 1924, USS O-9 experienced a respite from her "school boat" duties while patrolling and operating in the vicinity of the Panama Canal. While there, the submarine was reclassified as a second-line submarine.

The following article is from an unknown newspaper dated 24 January 1928.

LINDBERGH TAKES DIVE IN SUBMARINE OFF COCO SOLO

AIR GENIUS IS MAKING TRIP TODAY TO PEARL ISLANDS AND WILL STAY THERE OVERNIGHT

Col. Charles A. Lindbergh yesterday afternoon took a nose dive. It was not, however, in an airplane but in the O-9, one of the big submarines based at Coco Solo.

The Lone Eagle was taken on a cruise around the harbor under a very choppy sea and it was said he showed a great deal of interest in the operation of the big undersea ship.

The flying colonel was the guest of Captain Ward Wortmann, commandant of the submarine base. Others in the party were Lieutenant Commander W.A. Heard and Lieutenant Robert W. Douglass, Junior, his aide. This ship was commanded by Lieutenant J.T. Acree. The vessel left the Coco Solo landing at 1:45 and cruised around for about an hour.

End of the 24 January 1928 newspaper article

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Back at the Connecticut submarine base, USS O-9 reverted to first-line submarine status on 6 June 1928.

During January of 1930, USS O-9 transited to the Portsmouth Navy Yard at Kittery, Maine. Two months later, the submarine transited back to New London/Groton.

During February of 1931, USS O-9 transited to the Philadelphia Navy Yard at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The submarine decommissioned there on 25 June 1931 ... and was placed in the reserve fleet at that Navy yard. She remained on the Navy Register.

USS O-9 was recalled to active duty as United States involvement in World War II became more imminent. She recommissioned at the Philadelphia Navy Yard on 14 April 1941 and reported for duty to the Submarine School at New London/Groton on 31 May 1941. However, the submarine was to see but brief pre-World War II service.

On 19 June 1941, USS O-9 departed the Connecticut submarine base, with other O-boats, for tests off the Isles of Shoals ... which lie approximately six miles east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the New Hampshire/Maine State Line.

After the other two submarines had successfully completed their tests on 20 June 1941, USS O-9 submerged at 0738 to conduct deep submergence tests. The submarine did not surface thereafter, but was crushed by the pressure of the water 402 feet below. The submarine went down fifteen miles off Portsmouth, New Hampshire ... in the area where USS Squalus (SS-192) had been lost during May of 1939.

Rescue ships swung into action immediately. USS O-6 (SS-67), USS O-10 (SS-71), USS Triton (SS-201), USS Falcon (ASR-2), and other ships searched for the sunken submarine. Divers went down from 1300 on 21 June until 1143 on 22 June. Divers went to record depths for salvage operations but could stay but a brief time on the ocean floor.

Salvage operations were cancelled as they were considered too risky.

USS O-9 (SS-70) was declared a total loss as of 20 June 1941 at Position: Latitude 42 degrees 59' 48" North Longitude 70 Degrees 20' 27" West

The following article is from an unknown newspaper dated June 20, 1941

MISSING VESSEL HAS 30 ABOARD

NAVY RUSHES AID TO LOCATE CRAFT, DOWN IN 375 FEET

PORTSMOUTH, N.H., June 20,-(AP)-The submarine O-9, one of the Navy's oldest, failed to come to the surface after a test dive off the Isles of Shoals Friday, and Navy officials expressed fear for the lives of the approximately 30 men aboard.

At 2:30 p.m., Eastern standard time, the recently recommissioned submarine had been under the surface in crushingly deep water for more than five hours.

The depth of the spot where the O-9 was diving was reported as 370 feet, and was only a short distance from where the Squalus crashed to the bottom in May, 1939, with the loss of 26 lives.

In a sensational rescue, 33 of the Squalus' officers and men were saved by a new diving bell, but that shining new craft rested in only 240 feet of water and was equipped to handle the diving bell on a special escape hatch.

LACKS SAFETY DEVICES

Available Navy officials expressed doubt that the same method could be used to lift the O-9's crew, because that craft was so old that it contained few of the safety features incorporated in the new undersea boats. In fact, the rescue bell was a mere thought in the minds of its designers when the O-9 was built.

The rescue ship Falcon, which aided in finally bringing the Squalus to the surface, was reported at the scene.

Admiral John D. Wainwright said the craft was making a dive in a swept area in 370 feet of water.

The submarines Grenadier, Trout, Triton, O-6 and O-10 also were rushed to the scene.

Captain John J. Brown took immediate charge of the search.

Meanwhile, diving equipment was being rushed from the Navy Yard at Washington, and Admiral Edwards, in charge of the submarine base at New London, Conn., was en route from there.

"SOUNDS" REPORTED

In an official report Lieut. Commander H.A. Ellis, of the First Naval District, said: "The O-9 submerged off Portsmouth at 10:36 a.m. (Eastern daylight time), and after failing to rise, a search was made by several vessels to locate her. As yet (2:40 p.m., E.D.T.) she has not been located.

The searching vessels think they have located underwater sounds.

"The O-9 was in company with the O-8 and O-10, practicing diving, and the O-10 reported the O-9 is not on the surface. The O-9 is one of the oldest subs in the Navy."

Deep concern was expressed by Navy men here because of the great depth of water in which the O-9 was operating.

When the Squalus went down in this same area in May, 1939, she rested in 240 feet of water, and, by the first actual use of a diving bell, 33 men were saved.

OUTLOOK UNFAVORABLE

Even at 240 feet, however, Navy divers were working under conditions they hardly had been called upon to face before in a life-and-death operation.

Navy men took note, too, of the fact that, whereas the Squalus was an entirely new submarine, equipped with most of the available safety devices, the O-9 was constructed so long ago as to be almost obselete in many of these factors.

The waters off the Isles of Shoals vary sharply as to depth, however, and some hope was expressed that the O-9 might be resting on a bank less than 370 feet below the surface.

When the Squalus was being towed back to Portsmouth after being raised late in the summer of 1939, she grounded frequently, even though lifted well off the bottom by huge pontoons.

End of the 20 June 1941 newspaper article

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On 22 June 1941, Secretary of the Navy Knox conducted memorial services for the 34 officers and men who were lost on USS O-9.

USS O-9 (SS-70) was struck from the Navy Register on 23 October 1941 ... and remains in the depths off the Isles of Shoals.

The following 34 officers and men went to the bottom in USS O-9 when she made her last dive on 20 June 1941.

Lieutenant Howard J. Abbot...the commanding officer

Seaman Apprentice Marvin D. Barry

Electrician's Mate Third Class W. R. Cannady

Seaman Apprentice William T. Crute

Radioman Third Class B. A. Davis

Machinist's Mate First Class John E. Dufresne

Signalman Third Class Charles L. Eagleton

Master-at-Arms Third Class John H. Edwards

Quartermaster Second Class H. T. Fost

Chief Machinist's Mate Edward G. Foster

Chief Machinist's Mate James G. Fowler

Torpedoman's Mate Third Class Robert A. Gardner

Seaman Apprentice N. Gerser

Fireman James G. Gillies

Fireman Apprentice Francis H. Golden

Seaman Apprentice F. A. Griffith

Torpedoman's Mate Second Class Francis L. Gruen

Machinist's Mate First Class Francis J. Gunn

Commissaryman Second Class Joe A. Hartzog

Radioman First Class Gaddis I. Hendy

Fireman Walter J. Jaskowiak

Machinist's Mate Second Class William C. Kaufman

Torpedoman's Mate Third Class Levitt E. Krueger

Electrician's Mate Second Class Allan H. Littleford

Quartermaster Second Class Chester L. Miller

Seaman Apprentice Emile A. Ouelette

Chief Electrician's Mate Sam E. Sonnenburg

Fire Control Technician Third Class F. P. Schneider

Chief Electrician's Mate James E. Strang

Machinist's Mate First Class Thomas W. Tilliery, Junior

Chief Machinist's Mate Earl F. Varner

Seaman Apprentice Bernard J. Venhaus

Ensign Marks P. Wangsness

Torpedoman's Mate Chief William C. Wolf

***News release dated 20 September 1997 ... Portsmouth, New Hampshire

High-tech wizardry has lifted some of the mystery from events on June 20, 1941, when a U. S. Navy submarine disappeared with 34 men on board in a deep dive in the chilly waters off the Isles of Shoals. For half a century, all crew members of USS O-9 were presumed lost at sea.

But the precise location of the sleek, Quincy-built World War I-era sub was not known for sure until this week. On Monday, a Salem, New Hampshire, company used its sophisticated "side-scan" sonar equipment to peer into the depths from a University of New Hampshire research boat. A group of retired World War II submariners and Navy officials spotted the sub's partly crushed hull in water 420 feet deep, 17 miles off the New Hampshire coast. "To see modern technology in a very spooky sort of way bring up the shadow through sonar, and suddenly see a broken-up submarine on the sea floor leaves you with quite an intense emotional feeling," said Gene Allmendinger, a retired UNH professor who designed World War II submarines and was on the boat when the discovery was made. The U. S. Navy was girding to enter World War II when the newly refurbished O-9 went down during a test dive in a submarine training ground. "U.S. SUB DOWN," banner headlines read in the Boston Evening Globe on June 20, 1941. "Fears mounted late this afternoon that the Navy had another Squalus disaster on its hands, "wrote Globe reporter Nat A. Barrows, referring to the loss of another submarine near the same spot in 1939. O-9 was one of the oldest subs in active service. It was designed to go no deeper than 200 feet.

Built in 1918 by the Fore River Ship Building Co. of Quincy, the black-hulled 172-foot sub had been returned to service to train submariners at the Navy submarine base in New London, Conn. On June 20, O-9 plowed the Atlantic with two sister subs, USS O-6 and USS O-10, toward a submarine deep sea test diving area east of the Isles of Shoals. After monitoring the two other subs' dives, the crew of O-9 radioed the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard that O-9 would dive 15 minutes later, at 8:30 a.m. The two subs watched as O-9 made a "slow, but normal pre-dive routine" and slid below the water's surface at 8:37 a.m., according to Navy records. Twenty minutes later, crew members on O-10 saw the periscope of O-9 scanning the haze roll over in the water. Around 9:05 a.m., that too vanished. By 10:32 a.m., worried radio operators called for O-9. The Navy in Washington ordered a crew of divers, submarines and rescue ships to scour the sea for O-9. As night fell, search boats got an omen from the ocean floor: oil slicks and a wooden deck fragment bobbing in the water. A telling mix of air and oil gurgled to the surface. The next day, two Navy divers plunged to heroic depths to search for O-9. Navy diver Robert Metzger reported spotting an object with a "half-moon" design on the ocean floor. But he couldn't say for sure that it was O-9, and the search was called off. The modern-day search for O-9 was led by Glen Reem, 68, of Stratford, Conn., a retired Raytheon Company engineer and a Navy Reserve veteran. Enlisted to help was Klein Associates Inc., the maker of side-scan sonar equipment also used to track debris from TWA Flight 800 and the Challenger disaster. On Monday, a UNH research boat trailed a "tow fish" 380 feet below the water's surface. Sonar energy pulses send echoes back to the tow fish and a display unit on board the ship. "You see all kinds of gray, and fish or rock," said Allmendinger. "Then suddenly, this foreign object begins to emerge in somewhat of a ghostly fashion. Then you say, oh my gosh!" The ghostly image was that of O-9, lying on its side on the sandy ocean floor.

Half of its hull seemed to have been crushed by water pressure, suggesting structural failure as a cause of its demise, said Bob Schwartz of Klein Associates. Its forward section seemed almost intact. Also that day, five retired New Hampshire submariners, Klein company officials, and Navy salvage researchers watched as a floral wreath was flung into the water in memory of the 34 lost at sea.

Neither Klein officials nor the Navy want the exact location of the submarine known. There are no plans to recover the sub and the area will be designated an official Naval burial ground.

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