SALVAGE FAILURE

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 39, 16 February 1933, Page 3

SALVAGE FAILURE

SUNKEN SUBMARINE ~

WRONG END RISES

The third attempt to raise the'sunfceifc. .submarine M 2 failed on 7th December.' No further salvage effort .is.likely tdi' be made, and M 2 will probably lie foB ever on the sea bed, 120 feet-below thei,, surface in West Bay,' Dorset, where s{i«j sank in January, 1932, with her crew. Of 60. ;•-'■'.' It was a day of bitter disapppint* ment to the Navy and to every; _ffifcer and man engaged in the operition. The. failure was due to. tho fact thiat the; stern of the submarine-rose before, tha^, bows. -".We have .been beaten by tha} merest,fluke," said an expert. : v As on previous attempts four- pcii-; toons—huge steel drums—were nsed tdi. help in buoying up the sunken' vessel..! Two had been chained to the stern arid;? two to the bows. Everything had been.' planned on the calculation that that! bSws of the ship would rise'first at. alj slight angle to the stern and so aUdwj] the water inside to be -forced out'by;;. air pressure through holes in the af te__= portion of all compartments along tha4 bottom. After, three, hours of pumping froni" the air compressors :on board H.M.S. Tedworth, the diving;ship, 'the instruments show- that the bows' of the sunkeni: Bubmaririe had lifted from the bottom,'^ and were several feet "above the sea bed. Pumping was continued in all compartments.

THE WRONG! END.

The eyes of every officer and man oaj board the ehcicKng salvage vessels weraJ directed to one- ceitral.spot .where-al blood-red- buoy had-for' months pasl^ marked the subiharine's resting-place., ; Suddenly, in the late afternoon,-when:!, the sun was dropping behind a bank ofif black cloud, the stern pontoons unex. j pectedly broke surface in a lather ot] foam, and the stern end of the.sub-j marine; rising like.a ghost from thai grave, could be clearly seen peeping] above the water. Simultaneously'thei bows drppped to the bottom/and-M3.J was held with the aft. end suspended ia) the heaving seas. In a vain attempt to' .bring .np thei, bows pumping was continued for .aia time, and then it was tlecidted to aban-4 don. : the effort. It is believed'- that:! the vents bored in Jhe huß.'fd" "carry; t away the water became choked." ; Two of the ships engaged on'tiie sal* j vage at once returned to Portland Har-. bour. It was decided to allow the sub-j marine to settle on the bottom once more, and' to remove the pontoons^j which, if not taken, away, might break' loose and become a ( danger to shipping. '■ , - Such .was the : galling climax te> months Of toil by divers-and salvage! men. More than 1500' dives have beett made in the-course of - the operations by the 26 expert naval divers employed; on the scene. . • ■'■.-''■•■•■'