Word: prometh
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Frenchmen were proud last week that they had lost no submarine since 1928, whereas the British Navy had lost three. The French first-class submarine Promethée of 2,000 tons (estimated cost $2,000,000) was maneuvering on the surface of the English Channel near Cherbourg, with several French bluejackets standing on her deck. Suddenly the Promethée began to go down by the stern.. Since her hatches were open, water poured in and she sank like a stone, carrying 62 men to their death. Her commander, a Lieut, du Mesnil, stepped out of the conning...
Precisely why did the Promethée sink? Before this could possibly be known rumors grew that some clumsy seaman had opened the diving valves by accident. Another rumor had Lieut, du Mesnil commit suicide after he was picked up with six lucky survivors by a fishing smack. Actually the Lieutenant announced himself at the disposal of the usual naval board of inquiry. "Before realizing what had happened," he told reporters, "I was swimming for my life...
...reported that the Promethee lies on an even keel in 230 ft. of water where the current is exceedingly swift. Twice the divers' telephone connection with the Artiglio was ripped apart by the rushing waters. They expressed a professional opinion that it will be impossible to raise the Promethée, said that they found her hatches open, conjectured that an explosion may have ripped open the Promethée's stern, thus causing her to sink stern first. "The public has a right," observed long-mustached French Naval Minister Georges Leygues, "to know the truth...
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