In May 1921, the U.S. submarine R-14 ran out of fuel and lost radio communications while searching for another vessel, the Conestoga, about 100 nautical miles southeast of Hawaii.
The ship's engineering officer, Lieutenant Roy Gallimore, rigged a foresail out of eight hammocks, with a top boom made from pipe bunk frames, all tied to the vertical kingpost of the torpedo loading crane.
This rig got the R-14 one knot of speed and rudder control, so Gallemore crafted a mainsail from six blankets, as well as a mizzenmast. Together, these gave the R-14 enough speed to begin charging its batteries.
After 64 hours under sail, the R-14 reached Hilo Bay (using battery power) on May 15th.
For the crew's innovative actions, acting commander Lieutenant Alexander Dean Douglas received a letter of commendation from the Submarine Division Commander, none other than CDR Chester Nimitz.
Wikipedia
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment