I arrived at the sub and began taking a series of photographs to record conditions. Tide was high at this time and well above normal high tide level. The new I-95 to I-195 connector bridge, still under construction, is in the background with the Fox Point hurricane barrier gates open and visible beneath the bridge span.
Debris in the foreground had accumulated from across the bay due to winds from the east. Forward mooring chain attached to the sub is visible in the lower left. This attaches to a heavy bollard on shore and is part of the storm moorings required by the Coast Guard and local port officials. A similar chain is secured at the stern of the sub.
Camels between the sub and pier are partially submerged. "Normal" waterline of the sub indicates bow is considerably higher than normal and the sub is listing between 10 and 15 degrees to port.
View at the bow with lowest of the three starboard torpedo tube outer doors almost completely above the waterline. This view shows the forward mooring chain attached to a clevis at the bullnose. Shore power cables and telephone line is still attached but the power has been turned off by this time. Note the white paint lines on the anchor cover door for reference later.
April 17, Time: 0837
View from aft looking south. The forward gangway is still firmly attached to the sub and usable, but Coast Guard and other officials the previous evening had ordered that no one enter the sub until a professional salvage specialist arrived. In hindsight if someone had been able to get aboard as soon as someone had been notified by the security company of a bilge alarm the previous evening and securely dogged down the after visitor access hatch and isolated compartment 8, conditions might have been siginificantly different than above the following morning. Storm conditions, however, were extremely bad at the time which would have made such actions very hazardous.
Because the stern is resting on the bottom as the tide recedes more of the after deck comes into view above the surface. By this time a pollution containment boom had been re-established around the sub. The slight oil sheen visible on the surface had almost certainly come from a minor fuel spill at the construction site and not from the sub and was contained. Over the course of the day this apparently evaporated.
At low tide with the stern resting on the bottom this is the most of the after deck that became visible. Again, the oil sheen visible on the surface we were virtually certain (and convinced the Coast Guard) had not come from the sub, but from a small spill from the bridge construction site. A barge there had just been refueled that morning.
On deck looking aft while a marine salvage professional was aboard surveying the extent of interior flooding. At this point he reported that compartments aft of compartment 6 were flooded and that the water was about 2 feet below the walking deck in compartment 6, the engine room. He secured the compartment hatch leading to compartment 7 and all others as he progressed forward. Compartment supply and return isolation valves were not checked, however.
Note the water level in relation to the white painted lines as compared to the fourth photograph above which was taken at high tide in the morning. At this point evening high tide was still 4 hours and 21 minutes away at 2052. At this point I went back on board and secured the forward visitor access hatch after the marine salvage specialist had entered and secured forward compartment watertight doors. This hatch is not watertight however and could not readily be made so.
At this point we had acquired some additional heavy mooring lines and were preparing to attach them to the radar mast and tracking antenna.
April 17, Time: 1758
With the water level at the uppermost white line, combined with a port list of over 10 degrees, the water had certainly reached the forward visitor access hatch and was beginning to enter compartment 1. High tide was still just under two hours away. At this point most of us, including me, left for the day leaving John Daly, our Saturday Duty Officer to stay over night.
April 18, Time: 0700
I arrived to relieve John Daly for the day and was greeted with this sight. By high tide the at 2052 the previous evening only the sail was visible above the water, but there was still the possibility of accessing the interior through the upper conning tower hatch for salvage purposes. There was also the possibility that we might be able to get a large air compressor attached to the manifold inside the sail area and get air into those ballast tanks that were still reasonably intact and usable. At around 0100 though according to John he heard loud noises coming from the dock as the sub rolled over to port and the sail disappeared below the water with little more than the periscopes visible above the surface. At mid-morning the spring mooring line which tends toward the right in this photograph snapped with a sound like a loud gunshot.
By mid-afternoon, after the media had once again descended upon the site to update their story, the Coast Guard ordered the site secured for safety reasons and it is no longer open to the public. At this point as plans to raise and salvage the sub are being developed, I am assembling whatever detail photographs I have taken of the sub over the past 4-1/2 years I have been working with it in various capacities and will provide them to whoever may find them useful.
Northeast Diving Services diver emerges from the water after surveying underwater conditions along the port side of the submarine. Diver is tethered with heated water circulating through his wet suit and had a video camera attached to his helmet to transmit what he was observing to the diving support trailer.