Folks,
Last year my son gave me a book by the late Peter Maas called "The Terrible Hours" and it came to the top of my "To Read" pile just before my most recent trip. I could not put it down until I had finished it!
It is nominally a story about the sinking of the new, state of the art submarine, Squalus, in 1939. I wrote, "nominally" because it is really about an American Hero, Charles Bowers Momsen, "Swede" Momsen, of the US Navy.
Momsen was the inventor of the Monsen Lung, used worldwide to save men in disabled submarines. He concieved of it, developed it, tested it and perfected it. That story alone would make him a hero.
However, he also invented the chamber used to rescue men from sunken subs when the lung was not appropriate. That invention, which was called the McCann Rescue Chamber for low political reasons, was used in the attempt to rescue men from the Squalus. It was to the first attempt to use anything like it.
Of interest to divers was Momsen's pioneering work on He/O2 mixtures for diving. Of course, the divers in those days wore brass helmets, leaded shoes and had hoses for the gases they breathed that came from tanks aboard ships. His work with He/O2 also would have qualified him for a special place in history. The fact that he was the key to progress in all three areas is an incredible story! Later in his career he contributed even more!
Momsen was a submarine officer, but he was also a scientist/engineer and his work was a classic example of the use of the scientific method. All of his efforts are characterized by three things:
(1) Careful collection and recording of data. Mens' lives were at stake and there was no value to poor data, irreproducible data or anecdotal data.
(2) He tested everything himself the first time it was used. That included the lung at all depths and the rescue chamber under extremely dangerous conditions. He was a "follow me" type as opposed to a "go there" type.
(3) He put his own career at stake when the Navy was too conservative or resistant to his new ideas. He believed in what he was doing and was not hesitant to say so.
We are all so used to nuclear subs that I suspect we do not have an appreciation of the difficulties associated with the ships that proceded them. Here is something from a section of the book:
"But for McLees, now an electrician's mate third class, [the Squalus] was unbelievably spacious compared to the subs he had first served on. And best of all, she was not only air conditioned, but boasted toilets."*
That certainly got my attention and, unless you are a naval historian, you might wonder what they did with no toilets! That is answered later in the book:
"When traveling submerged, you were reduced to a bucket half-filled with diesel oil. As one old-time chief observed, "Even goldfish stink in diesel oil.""**
Well, the story of Momsen, the sinking of the Squalus, the attempt to rescue the men of the Squalus, the attempt to salvage it in order to learn why it sunk, and the early history of submarines in the US Navy are all intertwined in this book in an artful and gripping manner. It was, to me, a great read.***
Joewr...
*Maas, Peter, "The Terrible Hours", HarperCollins, 1999, p 9
** Maas, op. cit., p 57
***I read this book and made the assumption that it was factual in its telling. I did not, however, go back to original sources. Thus, if some thoughful person reading this thinks the facts are incorrect, I am certain he/she will be kind enough to correct me.
Last year my son gave me a book by the late Peter Maas called "The Terrible Hours" and it came to the top of my "To Read" pile just before my most recent trip. I could not put it down until I had finished it!
It is nominally a story about the sinking of the new, state of the art submarine, Squalus, in 1939. I wrote, "nominally" because it is really about an American Hero, Charles Bowers Momsen, "Swede" Momsen, of the US Navy.
Momsen was the inventor of the Monsen Lung, used worldwide to save men in disabled submarines. He concieved of it, developed it, tested it and perfected it. That story alone would make him a hero.
However, he also invented the chamber used to rescue men from sunken subs when the lung was not appropriate. That invention, which was called the McCann Rescue Chamber for low political reasons, was used in the attempt to rescue men from the Squalus. It was to the first attempt to use anything like it.
Of interest to divers was Momsen's pioneering work on He/O2 mixtures for diving. Of course, the divers in those days wore brass helmets, leaded shoes and had hoses for the gases they breathed that came from tanks aboard ships. His work with He/O2 also would have qualified him for a special place in history. The fact that he was the key to progress in all three areas is an incredible story! Later in his career he contributed even more!
Momsen was a submarine officer, but he was also a scientist/engineer and his work was a classic example of the use of the scientific method. All of his efforts are characterized by three things:
(1) Careful collection and recording of data. Mens' lives were at stake and there was no value to poor data, irreproducible data or anecdotal data.
(2) He tested everything himself the first time it was used. That included the lung at all depths and the rescue chamber under extremely dangerous conditions. He was a "follow me" type as opposed to a "go there" type.
(3) He put his own career at stake when the Navy was too conservative or resistant to his new ideas. He believed in what he was doing and was not hesitant to say so.
We are all so used to nuclear subs that I suspect we do not have an appreciation of the difficulties associated with the ships that proceded them. Here is something from a section of the book:
"But for McLees, now an electrician's mate third class, [the Squalus] was unbelievably spacious compared to the subs he had first served on. And best of all, she was not only air conditioned, but boasted toilets."*
That certainly got my attention and, unless you are a naval historian, you might wonder what they did with no toilets! That is answered later in the book:
"When traveling submerged, you were reduced to a bucket half-filled with diesel oil. As one old-time chief observed, "Even goldfish stink in diesel oil.""**
Well, the story of Momsen, the sinking of the Squalus, the attempt to rescue the men of the Squalus, the attempt to salvage it in order to learn why it sunk, and the early history of submarines in the US Navy are all intertwined in this book in an artful and gripping manner. It was, to me, a great read.***
Joewr...
*Maas, Peter, "The Terrible Hours", HarperCollins, 1999, p 9
** Maas, op. cit., p 57
***I read this book and made the assumption that it was factual in its telling. I did not, however, go back to original sources. Thus, if some thoughful person reading this thinks the facts are incorrect, I am certain he/she will be kind enough to correct me.
