S-49 submarine Patuxent River, MD

[Bowtie22]

Has anyone on here ever visited the S-49 submarine wreck in the Patuxent river, Maryland? I was wanting some details on your dive.

 

[CGoheen]

I'm wasn't aware of S49, it was a US sub -During the Second World War, the former USS S-49 (SS-160) was reacquired by the United States Navy "as equipment" for use in experimental work at the United States Naval Mine Warfare Test Station at Solomons, Maryland...now known as the United States Naval Air
Station, Paruxent River...Solomons Facility.

Shortly after being towed to Solomons from Baltimore (where the
Navy had reacquired the submarine), the former USS S-49 (SS-160) foundered off Point Patience in the Patuxent River on 16 December 1942 and sank in 102 feet of water at:
Position: Latitude 38 Degrees 19' 53.2" North
Longitude 76 Degrees 29' 17.2" West
or, on a bearing of 318.5 Degrees True, distant 525 yards, from the southern tip of Point Patience. The S-boat has remained on the bottom at that position to the present day...

but I am aware of U1105.

http://www.marylandhistoricaltrust.net/u1105.html

 

[Lusbian]

The navy divers set up on it on a regular basis and do saturation dives. It is not marked

 

[ScubaGypsy]

Has anyone dove the S-49 (SS-160) WW1 submarine in the Patuxent River recently? We tried to do a live drop last year as our anchor line wasn't long enough to hook in but we missed the submarine though we did see it on our fish finder. Looks to be around 135-140' deep.

 

[Bob DBF]

S-49 (SS-160) WW1 submarine

The US S class submarines were built after WW1, between 1920 and 1925. Because they were being made obsolete by the new fleet boats just before WW2, they were sent to the asiatic fleet to end their days. When WW2 started they were immediately on the front lines and served with distinction during the war, until replaced by our newer submarines.

The S 49 was sold as scrap in 1931 due to a Naval treaty on warships, and was acquired an ran as a tourist attraction at 25 cents a ticket, including as an exhibit at the Great Lakes Exposition in 1936. The Navy reacquired it in 1941, and it foundered while being towed.

PigBoats.COM - S Class Submarines
Will give a longer history of the S 49 as well a all the boats in the class.


Bob

 

[msinc]

Visibility is bad, so is the current. It is like right around 100 ft. (105 on my gauge} although the conning tower is higher. The neat thing about it is that the current keeps it scoured out pretty well, unlike the U-1105 which is so silted in that about all there is to see is the conning tower sticking up out of the mud. The Patuxent River is the deepest river on the east coast of the U.S.
There are a few interesting facts about the S-49...it was rigged to use as a sonar target in the early days of WWII. They had it set to dive remotely and sit on the bottom and then resurface when needed. It was actually used to test and calibrate the then pretty new sonar. The way it lays in the Patuxent River you can get like a 5000 yard sonar shot from upriver. Something happened on the first try to dive and resurface it ending in failure, so they just left it on the bottom and accomplished what was needed. This is why it was officially listed as "foundered" by the Coast Guard. Truth told, the old gal probably did as much to help win the war in the Atlantic as any ship in the Navy.
At the time {she was sunk,16-Dec-43} there was a lot of personnel assigned to the Solomon's base. Local legend quickly got out that if someone knew what they were doing they could go down and enter an escape trunk, blow the ballast and raise her. The Navy was concerned someone would get hurt trying and this accounts for the steel straps seen welded on the torpedo tubes and hatches.
Perhaps one interesting fact that is probably the least known is that this boat was involved in the courts setting a legal president still taught in law schools today {Chrestensen v. Valentine}. It deals with the question of commercial speech being protected under the first amendment. Back in the 30's the boat was privately owned and used as a display as referenced above. It was docked in New York City and the owner got into a contest with the city authorities. After being promised a good spot on the docks the cities leaders went back on their word and gave them a dock spot of lesser value. The disgruntled owner printed up flyers and passed them out, but was later fined and sued the chief of police.
The S-49 has not been visited by any Navy divers {unless they went on their own just for recreation} in at least 30 or 40 years. The Navy last had a buoy and line on it back in the mid 80's, but there hasn't been any Navy divers assigned to the Solomon's base since the late 60's, possibly early 70's.

 

[Akimbo]

The navy divers set up on it on a regular basis and do saturation dives.

I think you mean surface supplied dives. The water is way to shallow to justify saturation diving. Fortunately they have a sat system of their own again after a decades long dry spell. See the U.S. Navy Saturation Diving article on Page 5 of the November 2012 Faceplate Magazine.

 

[Wookie]

The US S class submarines were built after WW1, between 1920 and 1925. Because they were being made obsolete by the new fleet boats just before WW2, they were sent to the asiatic fleet to end their days. When WW2 started they were immediately on the front lines and served with distinction during the war, until replaced by our newer submarines.

The S 49 was sold as scrap in 1931 due to a Naval treaty on warships, and was acquired an ran as a tourist attraction at 25 cents a ticket, including as an exhibit at the Great Lakes Exposition in 1936. The Navy reacquired it in 1941, and it foundered while being towed.

PigBoats.COM - S Class Submarines
Will give a longer history of the S 49 as well a all the boats in the class.


Bob

Thanks for the reference. I dive the S-16 in Key West, also sunk as a sonar target. They don't have much on her on this site, I can send them some nice underwater shots...

 

[msinc]

I think you mean surface supplied dives. The water is way to shallow to justify saturation diving. Fortunately they have a sat system of their own again after a decades long dry spell. See the U.S. Navy Saturation Diving article on Page 5 of the November 2012 Faceplate Magazine.

I don't know what kind of diving they were doing, but I have a few old photos, one dated 1974 of divers doing a aerial mine recovery near the site of the wreck. In this photo it appears the divers are going to use scuba and you can see a double tank rig in the boat. The other is dated 1971 and shows a group of guys getting into a decompression chamber that was located on the Solomon's Annex base. I don't know what they would have done diving wise to warrant the chamber. Could have just been going thru the motions for a photo. One of the "boathouses" burned down in 1975 and about that time the little base became a recreation center for the Navy. I think the diving was suspended there at about that time too.
I had several relatives that worked there and one of the things that got me interested in scuba diving was when I was a little kid in the 60's I was taken in the boathouse and showed all the "frogmen" gear. I don't remember ever seeing any "deep sea" gear like big copper helmets. It was all wet suits and double corrugated hose chrome regulators.

 

[Akimbo]

I don't know what kind of diving they were doing, but I have a few old photos, one dated 1974 of divers...

Got a scanner? I'd enjoy seeing them. I was at the Washington Navy Yard for about 5 months during First Class Diving School in the early 1970s and never heard about this boat.

It is amazing what a repository for diving history Scubaboard has become.