OTD in 1920, the following exchange took place between freighter S.S. Alanthus & what appeared to be a buoy waving a white flag, as seen in the photo [submarine rescue]

X.com ^ | Sep 2, 2026 | 𝗢𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿 @USN_Submariner

[ransomnote]

𝗢𝗹𝗱 𝗦𝘂𝗯𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗲𝗿

@USN_Submariner

·
9h

To hell, by compass

OTD in 1920, the following exchange took place between freighter S.S. Alanthus & what appeared to be a buoy waving a white flag, as seen in the photo:
• Alanthus: What ship are you?
• Submarine S-5
• Alanthus: What nationality
• United States
• Alanthus: Where are you bound
• To hell, by compass

A day earlier, S-class submarine USS S-5 (SS-110) attempted to quickly dive during a drill, but forgot to close the induction valve.

Water poured into the forward compartment, forcing the crew to abandon it. They blew the main tank but quickly sank to the ocean floor 180 feet below the surface.

From there they blew the aft tanks & the stern rose at a 60-degree angle with the bow still on the seabed.

Struggling to stand & running out of air, the crew began using hand tools to drill through the hull at the stern.

Progress was extremely slow, but they finally created a hole after 16 hours of drilling to deploy a flag made from a copper pipe & a white t-shirt.

Luckily Alanthus spotted them &, after having the above exchange, worked to drill a larger escape hole. All 40 crew members survived.

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TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alanthus; atlantus; pleasestop; ss110; ssalanthus; ssatlantus; submarine; usss5

[BenLurkin]

bttt

[mitch5501]

So that’s the stern jutting out of the water! Thank God the water wasn’t a few metres deeper.

[Equine1952]

1. Rule of submarines never submerge with hatchs open.

2. Rule. Surfaces meet or exceed submerges.

3. Rule Don’t eff up #1 or #2.

I was on auxiliary machinery 2 watch once and was asked if I was ready to surface. My answer “ I’m always ready to surface”

[Inyo-Mono]

Wow! I’ve read of this story before.

[Inyo-Mono]

Wow! I’ve never read of this story before.

[Southside_Chicago_Republican]

Bookmark

[Paal Gulli]

"OTD in 1920,..."

OH GOODIE! Another infantile acronym!

[Dr. Franklin]

I don't know if this is misspelling of the concrete ship S.S. Atlantus, the wreck of which lies just offshore from Cape May,NJ:
S.S. Atlantus
They experimented with building concrete ships during WWI since steel was scarce, but none finished in time to serve in that conflict. S.S. Atlantus was in service from 1919-1920, so the time line would be correct to have been the ship to save the submarine crew. The ship Atlantus was to be scrapped and sunk to serve as a pier for the Cape May-Lewis Ferry, but broke from her mooring during a storm in 1926 and ran aground at the present location. During the 70's it got so cold the ocean froze near shore and people walked out to the wreck. Not much is left of the wreck that looks like a ship today, just a seaweed covered pile of concrete.

[Dr. Franklin]

The USS S-5 sank 17 miles off Cape May, NJ on September 1, 1920, and from the picture the rescue ship is the S.S. Atlanus:

[Dr. Franklin]

*The USS S-5 sank 17 miles off Cape May, NJ on September 1, 1920, and from the picture the rescue ship is the S.S. Atlantus:

[Dr. Franklin]

[Disambiguator]

The poster is suffering from AAK.

(Assumed Acronym Knowledge)

I have no idea what OTD means, either.

[sjmjax]

Another concrete cargo ship was the SS Sapona.

Grounded in the Caribbean and used for target practice.
I’ve dove and snorkeled it many time on dive trips.

[Dr. Franklin]

The poster is suffering from AAK.
(Assumed Acronym Knowledge)
I have no idea what OTD means, either.

OTD=On this day...

[Disambiguator]

It must take several minutes to type out “On This Day.” I see why the poster had to use an acronym.

/s

I don’t recall seeing that one ICU (In Common Use).

[capydick]

Here's whats left of her today:

[dagunk]

Continental Shelf saved them. It goes out a ways and is relatively shallow.

Had a guy on the crew we got from a boomer (missile sub). We were talking about submerging and he mentioned that submerging when leaving from the east coast was done at some distance out. That was the continental shelf. Approx 200 feet(?) depth. Somebody who knows for sure holler.

Departing west coast the sub was submerged almost immediately after clearing the coast. No shelf - just deep water. Subduction zone between tectonic plates.

[Does so]

It was FTA...

;)

[Dr. Franklin]

Another concrete cargo ship was the SS Sapona.
Grounded in the Caribbean and used for target I’ve dove and snorkeled it many time on dive trips.

At the Jersey Shore S.S. Atlantus was always reffred to as just "the concrete ship". From the old marker at Sunset Beach in Cape May, NJ, twelve experimental concrete ships were made during WWI. According WP Atlantus was the second and S.S. Faith was the first. Faith was scuttled as an embankment of the Grijalva River in Mexico in 1932. It's curious what happened to the rest, but probably suffered a similar fate.