United States Submarine Losses-Prior To and After World War II-
— USS Bowfin Museum and Park —
He goes a great voyage that goes to the bottom of the sea, George Herbert, Jacula Prudentum, 1651
Throughout the history of submarine development, men have fought enemies just as lethal as any human foe. Those who brave the deep in sealed cylinders of steel encounter dangers beyond those of any surface craft. The end could come with the sudden collapse of the pressure hull, or the lingering agony of suffocation, on the bottom with no way up, collisions with merchant ships, a Coast Guard Cutter, and even a sister submarine, claimed the lives on a majority of submariners lost before World War II. Many others were lost in sinking due to mechanical malfunctions, such as in the well known Squalus and Thresher disaster. Following is a listing of U.S. Submarine losses involving fatalities which occurred prior to our entry into World War II, and of those that were lost since the war's end.
Submarine, Location, Date, Men Lost
*USS F-4 (SS-23), Off Honolulu, Hawaii, March 25, 1915, 21
*USS F-1 (SS-20), Off Point Loma, California, December 17, 1917, 19
*USS H-1 (SS-28), Off Baja California, Mexico, March 12, 1920, 4
*USS O-5 (SS-66) In Limon Bay, Panama Canal Zone, October 28, 1923, 3
*USS S-51 (SS162), Off Block Island, Rhode Island, September 25, 1925, 33
*USS S-4 (SS-109), Off Provincetown, Massachusetts, December 17, 1927, 40
*USS Squalus (SS-192) Off Portsmouth, New Hampshire, May 23, 1939, 26
*USS 0-9 (SS-70), Off Isle of Shoals, New Hampshire, June 20, 1941, 33
*USS Cochino (SS-345), Greenland Sea, North of Hammerfest, Norway, August 26, 1949, 1
*USS Thresher (SSN-593), 220 Miles East of Boston, April 10, 1963, 129
*USS Scorpion (SSN-589), 400 Miles South of the Azores, May 21, 1968, 99
Dedicated to submarines from all nations, who have been lost at sea.
(Inscription under the image at the top) Squalus Rising, July 13, 1939
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