Disaster Portsmouth, New Hampshire, June 21
First confirmation of the original belief that the failure of the main induction valve caused the U.S. submarine Squalus to plunge to her doom off this city last May 23 came from William S. Isaacs, cook aboard the ill-fated craft, in his testimony before the Naval Court of Inquiry here today.
Isaacs testified that while he was in the crew's compartment he looked through a peephole and saw water pouring from the induction valve to the portion of the hull opening into the forward engine room Previously, Lieutenant John C. Nichols had suggested a new theory for the disaster. Something might have happened to the main engine air induction valve after the submarine had been submerged, he said. He said he believed the valve had been closed when the Squalus dived.
Diving officer Lieut. T. William Doyle, Jr. testified that all lights on the signal board showed green, indicating that all hull openings were closed, when the Squalus dived. The lights remained green at least until the fifty foot depth, he said, from where the submarine suddenly plummeted to the bottom.
This officer was called as a witness early this morning in the official investigation of the disaster which cost the lives of 26 men—
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