Around the World Submerged Read Online Free PDF Page A

Lightner. As is common with ships under construction, the compartment was haphazardly strewn with heavy timbers and other working gear.
    In the corner of the compartment, Ralph Harris, Engineman Second Class, Kelly’s telephone talker, wore a telephone headsetwith earphones. In the center of the compartment stood one or two civilian employees of the Electric Boat testing gang. At this juncture, Thomas instructed Lightner to open one of the valves to the stand-by condenser. After he had done so, Lightner bent over to inspect the indicator at the side of the valve to see whether it was fully open, thus, by great good fortune, removing himself from the direct line of die valve stem. The very moment he did so, without any warning, stem and valve wheel shot out of the valve body and hit the steel overhead of the compartment with such force that the steel valve wheel was bent. Great vapor clouds whistled from what was now a direct opening into the steam line, and within seconds the compartment was full of scalding steam; visibility was zero.
    Les Kelly immediately assumed charge of the situation. “Secure the steam!” he bellowed, his voice rising above the noise. The main valve was promptly shut, but high-pressure steam continued to spew from the hole in the line until the trapped vapor had been reduced to atmospheric pressure. Kelly quickly ordered that necessary action be taken to safeguard the plant and machinery. Then he directed the compartment to be evacuated and the watertight doors shut. The two Electric Boat workers dived out the forward hatch. Thomas, half-supporting Lightner, who had been scalded about the face and hands, came out aft. Kelly, quickly checking the compartment to see that it was clear, also proceeded aft, and was the last man out—or so he thought.
    Calling a muster of all hands, checking by telephone with the forward compartment to see who had left by that exit, Kelly was dismayed to find one man not accounted for. Harris was evidently still inside the steam-filled compartment. Without hesitation, Les dived back through the watertight doorway, calling and groping for Harris in the blinding vapor. Feeling his way back to the spot where he had last seen him, Kelly discovered Harris crawling on the floor, scalded and temporarilyblind, groping his way toward the exit. In a moment, the two men were back outside.
    Both Harris and Lightner were hospitalized. Neither was seriously injured, fortunately, and both returned to duty within a few days. Les Kelly’s dive into the steam-filled compartment was the act of a brave man. A few more minutes of steam inhalation would have seriously injured or killed Harris, and of course Les ran the same risk. It was a pleasure to recommend him for a life-saving medal.
    As a result of an investigation to discover why the valve stem blew out under pressure, a new valve was designed to make this mishap impossible in the future; all submarines with similar installations made similar changes.
    In April, we experienced an accident which might have had even more serious consequences. A fire broke out in the ship’s galley from an improperly installed deep-fat fryer, and within minutes flames, sucked by fans, broke out in the ship’s ventilation lines in the immediate vicinity. Most of the Electric Boat civilian personnel rushed out immediately to notify the fire department, but one man, A. B. Evans, remained behind, aiming smothering streams of carbon-dioxide from a fire extinguisher at the base of the flame. The men from Triton ’s below-deck watch, George W. McDaniel, Sonarman First Class, and D. R. Quick, Engineman Second, swung rapidly into action. The ship’s Duty Officer, Lieutenant George A. Sawyer, Jr., had just completed his midnight inspection of the ship and had returned to our temporary headquarters on a barge moored nearby. Aroused by telephone, he mobilized all the temporarily off-watch people in the duty section and had them aboard Triton within a few