During the final months of
World War I,
O-5 operated along the Atlantic coast and patrolled from
Cape Cod, in Massachusetts, to
Key West, in Florida. On 6 October 1918,
O-5 was at the
Brooklyn Navy Yard, when
Lieutenant (Junior Grade) William J. Sharkey, noticed that the submarine's batteries were giving off toxic gas. Sharkey informed his commanding officer,
Lieutenant Commander George Trever, and the two went forward in the submarine to investigate. The batteries then exploded killing LTJG Sharkey, and fatally injuring LCDR Trever. LTJG Sharkey was posthumously awarded the
Navy Cross.
O-5 departed
Newport, Rhode Island, on 3 November 1918 with a 20-submarine contingent bound for
European waters; however, hostilities had ceased before the vessels reached the
Azores. After the
Armistice with Germany,
O-5 operated from the
Submarine School, at
New London, Connecticut, until 1923. When the US Navy adopted its
hull classification system on 17 July 1920, she received the
hull number SS-66.
Sinking of O-5 On 28 October 1923,
O-5 was operating with other units of the
US Atlantic Fleet, under the command of Commander Submarine Force,
Coco Solo, Canal Zone. At approximately 06:30,
O-5, under the command of Lieutenant Harrison Avery, was underway across
Bahía Limón, toward the entrance to the
Panama Canal. The steamship SS
Abangarez, owned by the
United Fruit Company, and captained by Master W.A. Card, was underway toward Dock No. 6, at
Cristobal. Through a series of maneuvering errors and miscommunication,
Abangarez collided with the
O-5, and struck the submarine on the starboard side of the control room, opening a hole some long and penetrating the number one main ballast tank. The submarine rolled sharply to port, then back to starboard, and sank bow first in of water. Three men died and 16 others escaped. Two crewmembers,
Henry Breault and Lawrence Brown, were trapped in the forward torpedo room, which they sealed against the flooding of the submarine. Local engineers and divers were able to rig cranes and other equipment and lift
O-5 far enough off the bottom that the bow broke the surface, exposing a hatch which led to the compartment where the two men were trapped, allowing them to be freed. Breault, who was in the process of evacuating the submarine when he realized that Brown was still onboard and returned to assist him, was awarded the
Medal of Honor for his actions.
Recovery of O-5 '' in 1914 receiving the
Medal of Honor from President
Calvin Coolidge Salvage efforts began immediately, and divers were sent down from a
salvage tug that arrived from Coco Solo. By 10:00, they were on the bottom examining the wreck. To search for trapped personnel, they hammered on the hull near the aft end of the ship and worked forward. Upon reaching the torpedo room, they heard answering hammer blows from inside the boat. In 1923, the only way the salvage crew could get the men out of the submarine was to lift it physically from the mud using cranes or pontoons. One of the largest
crane barges in the world,
Ajax, built specifically for handling the gates of the canal locks, was in the Canal Zone. However, there had been a landslide at the famous
Gaillard Cut, and
Ajax was on the other side of the slide, assisting in clearing the Canal. The excavation shifted into high gear and by 14:00, on the afternoon of the sinking, the crane barge
Ajax squeezed through and was on its way to
O-5. Divers worked to tunnel under
O-5s bow so lifting cables could be attached.
Ajax arrived about midnight, and by early morning, the cable tunnel had been dug, the cable run, and a lift was attempted.
Sheppard J. Shreaves, supervisor of the Panama Canal's salvage crew, and himself a qualified diver, had been working continuously throughout the night to dig the tunnel, snake the cable under the submarine, and hook it to
Ajaxs hoist. Now the lift began. As the crane took a strain, the lift cables broke. Shreaves and his crew worked another cable set under the bow and again
Ajax pulled. Again, the cable broke. All through the day, the men worked. Shreaves had been in his diving suit nearly 24 hours. As noon, on October 29, approached, the crane was ready for another lift, this time with buoyancy being added by blowing water out of the flooded engine room. Just after noontime, the bow of
O-5 broke the surface. Men from the salvage force quickly opened the torpedo room hatch, and Breault and Brown emerged into the fresh air. ==Fate==