PELNAR-GEORGE

LOST  AT  SEA  -  SINKING  OF  USS S-4  SS-109  -  12/17/1927

Submarine USS S-4 (SS-109) was built in Portsmouth Navy Yard, Maine, and commissioned on November 19, 1919.  On December 17, 1927, USS S-4 was conducting speed and maneuverability tests between two buoys marking ends of a measured nautical mile offshore from Provincetown, Massachusetts.  The cutter USCGC Pauling was making 18-knots returning to port from a Rum Search, looking for rumrunners.  About 3/4-mile offshore the Officer of the Deck sighted a periscope and ordered, “Hard astern!  Full right rudder!” but it was too late, and Pauling struck USS S-4 amidships just forward of the deck gun punching two holes, in a ballast tank and penetrating the pressure hull into the battery compartment.  The crew immediately tried to stop the flow of water by stuffing clothing into the hole but could not stop it.  Quickly thirty-four crewmembers were forced to evacuate into the control room and compartments aft, and six men were forward in the Torpedo Room.  All efforts to reach the surface were unsuccessful and the men awaited rescue attempts as USS S-4 rested on the bottom 104-feet below the surface.  There was no rescue equipment nearby and unfortunately gale force winds and rough seas prevented a quick response.  When rescuers reached the scene and were able to test air from S-4 it was found to be 7% carbon-dioxide, too high for anyone to survive.  Fortunately. the six men in the forward Torpedo Room had cleaner air and early rescuers were able to hear them tap morse code signals to divers.  As rescue work proceeded the tapping became less and the last message was, “Is … there … any … hope?”  The reply was, “There is hope.  Everything possible is being done.”  Thwarted by the severe weather the rescue force was unable to rescue the six men as they succumbed to lack of oxygen.  It took the Navy three months to finally raise USS S-4.

Seaman George Pelnar was one of the six men to die in the Torpedo Room and readily available historical public records reveal little information concerning him in addition to the details of his death.  He was reportedly born July 29, 1906, in Omaha, Nebraska, and had only been aboard USS S-4 for 21 days at the time of the sinking.  When the submarine was finally raised Pelnar’s body was recovered and a piece of cardboard, 2 by 8 inches, was found in a pocket with a message written in red crayon which read:  “My body to Palnar 5609 South 19 St, Omaha, NE.”  He is buried at Graceland Park Cemetery in Omaha.  Although records report his death as December 17, 1927, the day of the sinking, he may have died three days later as response to diver’s signals on the hull ceased the afternoon of December 20.

NOTE:  Some records give his name as George Pelham but this is incorrect as Navy records identify him as George Pelnar, Seaman, serial number 3161613.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)