Word: squalus
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...long, bare room in the Portsmouth Navy Yard Administration Building last week, four white-gloved officers of the U. S. Navy inquired into the sinking of the U. S. submarine Squalus (TIME, June 5). Before the board of inquiry sat the 33 survivors, including the lost boat's square-chinned, grave-eyed commander, Lieut. Oliver F. Naquin. Absent: the 26 who died...
...sink? Oliver Naquin as well as the board tried to get at the answer as fast and finally as possible. By Navy practice, he was recorded as the defendant. This technical procedure was very real to him, for any evidence or finding that misconduct or negligence had sunk the Squalus would sink...
Luckily for Oliver Naquin, the Navy already knew that: 1) sea water pouring through an open air-intake valve flooded the submarine's rear compartments, and 2) signal lights indicated that this valve was properly closed when the Squalus' last dive began...
...seconds after the first diving signal was given, officers at key posts throughout the boat reported all rigged for diving. The Squalus was 50 feet under the surface before "a hazy voice" from the engine room telephoned: "Take her up. The induction [main air valve] is open," and seconds later: "The engine room is flooded...
Weeks before the Squalus went down, the guilty valve failed to open properly but had never failed to close. It was disassembled, supposedly put in perfect order. On the Squalus and her sister boats, this valve is outside the hull, near the conning tower and invisible to those inside, who must depend on signal lights to know whether it is open or closed. The electrical signal system could have lied "if the mechanism was out of order...