USS Squalus
Submarine · United States · Lost 1939 · The Isles of Shoals & the New Hampshire Coast
A brand-new Portsmouth-built submarine sank off the Isles of Shoals when a valve failed on a test dive, but a pioneering rescue chamber saved 33 of the 59 men aboard.
The Vessel and Her Loss
USS Squalus, commissioned at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in March 1939, sank during a test dive off the Isles of Shoals on May 23, 1939, after a main induction valve failed and flooded her after compartments, killing 26 men. The following day, the rescue ship USS Falcon used the newly developed McCann Rescue Chamber to bring all 33 survivors to the surface, the first successful rescue of trapped submariners from such depth. The Navy raised Squalus that September, repaired her at Portsmouth, and recommissioned her in 1940 as USS Sailfish, which went on to serve through World War II.
Vessel
- 1939
- SS-192
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
- Kittery, Maine
- Steel
- 310 ft
- 27 ft
- 1450
- Diesel-electric, twin screw
- United States Navy
Loss
- May 23, 1939
- Mechanical failure
- Off the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire
- Atlantic Ocean
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine
- Not established
- 59
- 26
- Lt. Oliver F. Naquin
The Wreck Today
- 240 ft
- Not established
- Keel down on the seabed
- Not established
- Not established
Position
- Not established
- Position not established
- Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire
Vessel was salvaged and no longer remains on the seabed at the loss site.
Evidence
Overall confidence: Well documented (92/100)
Naval History and Heritage Command
Build, sinking, rescue, and salvage details.
U.S. Naval Institute, Naval History Magazine
Narrative and personnel detail.
