Seen here are the jury-rigged sails used to bring R-14 back to port in 1921; the mainsail rigged from the radio mast is the top sail in the photograph, and the mizzen made of eight blankets also is visible. R-14's acting commanding officer, Lieutenant Alexander Dean Douglas, USN, is at top left, without a hat.(Source: US Naval Historical Center).[note 1]
R-14 – under acting command of Lieutenant Alexander Dean Douglas – ran out of usable fuel due to seawater contamination, and lost radio communications in May 1921 while on a surface search mission for the seagoing tugConestoga about 140 nautical miles (259 km; 161 mi) southeast of the island of Hawaii.[1] Since the submarine's electric motors did not have enough battery power to propel her to Hawaii, the ship's officers and chief petty officers came up with a novel solution to the problem.[2] It was decided they should try to sail the submarine to the port of Hilo, Hawaii. A foresail was made of eight hammocks hung from a top boom made of pipe bunk frames lashed firmly together, all tied to the vertical kingpost of the torpedo loading crane forward of the submarine's superstructure. Seeing that this gave R-14 a speed of about 1 knot (1.2 mph; 1.9 km/h), as well as rudder control, a mainsail was made of six blankets, hung from the sturdy radio mast (the top sail in the photograph). This added 0.5 knots (0.6 mph; 0.9 km/h) to the speed. A mizzen was then made of eight blankets hung from another top boom made of bunk frames, all tied to the vertically placed boom of the torpedo loading crane.[3] This sail added another 0.5 knots (0.6 mph; 0.9 km/h). Around 12:30 on 12 May 1921, The crew was able to begin charging the submarine's batteries by dragging the propellers through the water while under sail. The windmill effect of these slowly turning propellers turned the generators providing a small amount of voltage that was directed to the batteries.[4] The crew worked together to solve their various problems, and the boat sailed slowly for Hilo.[5] After 64 hours under sail at slightly varying speeds, R-14 entered Hilo Harbor under battery propulsion on the morning of 15 May 1921. Douglas received a letter of commendation for the crew's innovative actions from his submarine division commander, CommanderChester W. Nimitz, USN.[6][7]
1930–1946
On 12 December 1930, R-14 departed Pearl Harbor for the last time and headed back to the Atlantic. Proceeding via San Diego, California, and the Panama Canal, she returned to New London on 9 February 1931, and through the end of the 1930s conducted training exercises for the Submarine School. In the spring of 1941, she moved down the East Coast of the United States to Key West, Florida, her home port as of 1 June 1941. In the fall of 1941, she returned to New London for overhaul and on 22 November 1941 resumed operations from Key West. Into April 1945, she conducted training exercises for the Sound School and patrolled the Yucatán Channel and the Florida Straits. On 29 June 1943, United States Army Coast Artillery Corps guns at Fort Zachary Taylor mistook R-14 for a German U-boat and opened fire on her while she was off Key West, but she suffered no damage.[8]
^The man in the foreground of the photograph is Seaman First Class Raymond R. Suess from Minneapolis, Minnesota. Though the copy shown of this photo is from the National Archives and in the public domain, the original copy of the photograph has been in the possession of the Suess family until recently and is now in private hands. Johnston & Hedman, pg. xvii, 63
^Condensed from the logbook of USS R-14. The logbook and Nimitz's letter are in the possession of Lieutenant Douglas's grandson in Colorado. (2 April 2009)
Johnston, David L., and Hedman, Ric. A Good and Favorable Wind: The Unusual Story of a Submarine Under Sail and its Cautionary Lessons for the Modern Navy. Nimble Books LLC, 2022. ISBN978-1-60888-200-7
External links
Photo gallery of USS R-14 at NavSource Naval History
