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DEPARTMENT OF THE NAVY -- NAVAL HISTORICAL CENTER
805 KIDDER BREESE SE -- WASHINGTON NAVY YARD
WASHINGTON DC 20374-5060
Photo # NH 41833: Interior of USS S-4's battery room in March 1928, after her salvage, showing damage received when she was sunk on 17 December 1927

Online Library of Selected Images:
-- EVENTS -- The 1920s -- 1920

Sinking and Salvage of USS S-4 (SS-109), 17 December 1927 - March 1928

submarine S-4
Coast Guard destroyer Paulding

minesweeper Falcon
Chief Gunners' Mate Thomas Eadie
Medal of Honor and Navy Cross
Ensign Frank W. Crilley

This page features, and provides links to, all the views we have related to the sinking of the submarine S-4 on 17 December 1927 and her salvage during the following four months.

For more views concerning the salvage of USS S-4, see:

  • Salvage of USS S-4 (SS-109), December 1927 - March 1928; and
  • Drydocking of USS S-4 (SS-109), March 1928.

    For other images concerning USS S-4, see:

  • USS S-4 (Submarine # 109, later SS-109), 1919-1936.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."

    Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.

    Photo #: NH 69120

    USCGC Paulding
    (CG-17)

    On the Marine Railway at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 26 December 1927, showing damage to her bow from her collision with USS S-4 (SS-109) on 17 December 1927.
    She was originally USS Paulding (DD-22).

    Courtesy of the San Francisco Maritime Museum, San Francisco, California, 1969.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 110KB; 740 x 610 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41827

    USS S-4
    (SS-109)

    Interior view of the hole in the starboard side of her Battery Room, made when she collided with USCGC Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 17 December 1927. Photographed at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 23 March 1928.
    A portion of Paulding's bow can be seen protruding through the hole, which is 2 1/2 feet in length and one foot in height. The hole appears to have been packed with folded fabric to reduce water inflow.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 120KB; 740 x 600 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41833

    USS S-4
    (SS-109)

    Interior of the Battery Room, looking aft and to port, 23 March 1928. Taken while she was in dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, after being salvaged off Provincetown, Massachusetts, where she had been sunk in collision with USCGC Paulding on 17 December 1927.
    The irregular object running the length of the compartment, just above the lockers on the right (port) side, is the collapsed ventilator duct through which water entered the Control Room. Into this duct water forced the curtain and flag, which clogged the valve on the after side of the bulkhead, preventing it from closing. It was this water which forced the abandonment of the Control Room.
    S-4 flooded through a hole, made by Paulding's bow, in the forward starboard side of the Battery Room.
    See Photo # NH 41847 and Photo # NH 41848 for photographs of the Battery Room, taken when S-4 was first completed.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 115KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 783

    USS S-4
    (SS-109)

    View in the Torpedo Room, where eight men died a lingering death after the submarine was sunk in collision with USCGC Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 17 December 1927.
    This view looks aft at the door into the Battery Room, showing the door tightly dogged. The door itself was tight, but the glass deadlight leaked, as is shown by the rubber sheet held in place by a pinch bar and wooden wedges, placed there by the trapped men.
    Photographed while S-4 was drydocked at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 20 March 1928.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 113KB; 580 x 765 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41813

    USS S-4
    (SS-109)

    In dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, circa 19 March 1928, following salvage.
    Original caption reads: "As the waters in the drydock receded, a wide, deep indentation in the starboard side of the S-4, forward of the gundeck at the battery compartment, was exposed. Photo shows the huge dent made when the submarine was struck by the Coast Guard destroyer Paulding".

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 159KB; 740 x 605 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41814

    USS S-4
    (SS-109)

    In dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, circa 19-20 March 1928, after salvage.
    This photo, which has been crudely marked for cropping, shows the hole made in S-4's starboard side when she collided with USCGC Paulding on 17 December 1927.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 154KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41830

    USS S-4
    (SS-109)

    Hole in her starboard hull side, made when she collided with USCGC Paulding off Provincetown, Massachusetts, on 17 December 1927. Photographed in dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 20 March 1928.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 132KB; 740 x 590 pixels

     
    Photo #: NH 41815

    USS S-4
    (SS-109)

    In dry dock at the Boston Navy Yard, Charlestown, Massachusetts, circa 19 March 1928, after salvage.
    Visible in her starboard side, just forward of ther deck gun, is the hole made when she collided with USCGC Paulding on 17 December 1927.
    Note the half-masted flag flying from the forward end of S-4's fairwater.

    U.S. Naval Historical Center Photograph.

    Online Image: 164KB; 740 x 595 pixels

     

    For more views concerning the salvage of USS S-4, see:

  • Salvage of USS S-4 (SS-109), December 1927 - March 1928; and
  • Drydocking of USS S-4 (SS-109), March 1928.

    For other images concerning USS S-4, see:

  • USS S-4 (Submarine # 109, later SS-109), 1919-1936.


    If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions."


    Return to Naval Historical Center home page.

    Page made 15 October 2005