Returned to Service: Yes
While returning to port on the evening of 29 January, 1925, S-48 was caught in a heavy snowstorm just off the New Hampshire coast. S-48 ran aground once and was able to pull herself off, only to run aground again a short time later. The buffeting of the storm caused the battery compartment to take on water and deadly chlorine gas began forming. The crew of the S-48 was rescued by U.S. Coast Guardsmen in lifeboats, without loss of life.
The S-48 was freed from the rocks on 8 February, 1925. However, damage was so severe that funds were not available to effect repairs. S-48 was decommissioned on 7 July, 1929. She was finally repaired and recommissioned on 8 December, 1928, nearly four years after her latest accident. S-48 was to see action in World War II as a training submarine at New London, CT.
No Men Lost.
(U.S. Navy DANFS 6: 121; Wilson 46)
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Submarine Losses
The S-48 holds the distinction of being the only U.S. Submarine to be involved in two major accidents as defined in this study. The first accident occurred when the S-48 foundered on 7 December, 1921, and was actually prior to the submarine being commissioned. In neither case did anyone lose their life - a remarkable achievement, and a testimony to the inginuity of the American submariner, even under extreme pressure and stress.
This page last updated 6 September, 1998