Trapped Beneath the Waves!: Difference between revisions
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(Created page with "{{comicstory |seriesissue=''A Tale from the Transformers Fact Files...'' |next=The Truth About Alcatraz! |image= |caption= |title=Trapped Beneath the Waves! |publisher=Marvel Comics |published in=''The Transformers'' issue 15 |date=6th April, 1985 |writer=Mister Kit<ref name=oubliees/> |artist=Mister Kit |translation=uncredited |letters=uncredited }} '''IT REALLY HAPPENED!''' ==Synopsis== {{stub}} ==Featured...") |
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'''A routine submarine test goes wrong, stranding its crew on the sea bed for 27 hours.'''
==Synopsis==
It's the 23rd of May, 1939, and the U.S. Navy submarine ''[[Squalus]]'' is being tested off the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A routine dive goes awry as water floods the engine room, causing the ship to drop to the bed, 242 feet below sea level. To make matters worse, a short circuit in the batteries causes an electrical fire, which is rapidly dealt with.
The commander of the ship orders his main to remain calm and hunker down. The Navy will soon be searching for ''Squalus'' when it fails to report in, so the buoys are released to provide a thick red smoke signal.
From a staff meeting in Portsmouth, [[Vice-Admiral Cole]] organises the rescue effort. ''Squalus''{{'}}s sister ship, ''[[Sculpin]]'', is already searching the submarine's last known location. [[Commander McCann]] and his revolutionary diving bell are dispatched on the ''[[Falcon]]''. When ''Sculpin'' locates ''Squalus''{{'}} buoy, Cole himself decides to launch on ''[[Penacook]]''. ''Falcon'' is a late arrival, however, being buffeted about by a storm, and finally joining the two larger ships around 4:15 a.m..
After six hours of preparation, [[Quarter Master Sibitsky]] volunteers to be the one to don the diving suit and descend to the sea bed. His journey slowly and steadily takes him down to ''Squalus'', where his knocks on the side of the sub reinvigorate the crewmen's morale, as they have been trapped now for nearly 26 hours.
Hearing the crew's knocked response, Sibitsky attaches the diving bell's descending cable. As soon as he is pulled back up, Commander McCann and a colleague descend in the capsule, with their arrival on the sea bed eliciting cheers from the ''Squalus'' crew. All 33 men are saved.
Following the incident, the ''Squalus'' is refloated and salvaged. After an overhaul, it is re-launched as the ''Sailfish'', serving in the Second World War and sinking an impressive number of enemy ships. In December 1943, ''Sailfish'' successfully destroys a Japanese cargo boat... though in a cruel twist of fate, the boat was carrying twenty American prisoners who had previously served on ''Sculpin'' when it rescued ''Squalus''.
==Featured characters==
{{featuredcharacters
|h1=
|c1=
*''Squalus'' crew
**''Squalus'' commander
*''Sailfish'' crew
|h2=''[[Falcon]]''
|c2=
*''Falcon'' crew
**[[Commander McCann]]
**[[Quarter Master Sibitsky]]
|h3=Others
|c3=
*[[Vice-Admiral Cole]]
*Two officers in Portsmouth
*''[[Sculpin]]'' crew
}}
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===Real-life references===
It really happened! The [[w:USS Sailfish (SS-192)|USS ''Squalus'']] was a real submarine that sank, and the resulting rescue operation saw the first in-the-field use of the [[w:McCann Rescue Chamber|McCann Rescue Chamber]]. The [[w:USS Sculpin (SS-191)|''Sculpin'']], [[w:USS Falcon (AM-28)|''Falcon'']], and [https://www.ibiblio.org/hyperwar/OnlineLibrary/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-p/yt6.htm ''Penacook''] were all also real ships.
Thanks to historical records, we can also nail down the identities of some of the people depicted:
*The "commander" of the ''Squalus'' is Lieutenant [[w:Oliver F. Naquin|Oliver F. Naquin]].
*Cole is Rear Admiral [[w:Cyrus W. Cole|Cyrus W. Cole]].
*McCann is Lieutenant Commander [[w:Allan Rockwell McCann|Allan Rockwell McCann]].
*Sibitsky is Boatswain's Mate Martin C. Sibitsky.<ref>[https://exhibits.mclibrary.duke.edu/uss_squalus/shilling-narrative%3Fpage=6.html We Rescue The Men From The U. S. S. Squalus, by Lt. Comdr. C. W. Shilling (MC) USN (page 7)]</ref>
*The skipper of the ''Sailfish'' may be intended to be Lieutenant Commander [https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/33753/Ward-Robert-Elwin-McCraner.htm Robert E. McC. Ward].
===Edits===
===Artwork and technical errors===
====Historical inaccuracies====
*The skipper of ''Squalus'' was a Lieutenant, not a Commander.
*Much is made of ''Squalus'' having a crew of 33, and all being saved – in reality, the 33 were merely the remainder of the crew that were left, with 26 men being drowned instantly by the malfunction.<ref>[https://www.history.navy.mil/research/histories/ship-histories/danfs/s/squalus-ss-192/squalus-ss-192-sinking-rescure-of-survivors-and-salvage/Squalusmaterial.html Crew of USS Squalus] at Naval History and Heritage Command</ref>
*Cole was a Rear Admiral rather than a Vice-Admiral.
*''Sculpin'' was designated SS-191 in real life, rather than 189 as depicted here. Similarly, ''Falcon''{{'}}s classification was "ASR-2", rather than 56.
*Sibitsky was a [[w:Boatswain's mate (United States Navy)|Boatswain's mate]], not a Quarter Master.
*McCann – who was a Lieutenant Commander, not a Commander – did not operate the bell personally.<ref>[https://exhibits.mclibrary.duke.edu/uss_squalus/shilling-narrative%3Fpage=7.html We Rescue The Men From The U. S. S. Squalus, by Lt. Comdr. C. W. Shilling (MC) USN (page 8)]</ref> We can't blame this one on Marvel UK, as that is straight up just a drawing of McCann in panel 5 of page 5. The bell is also depicted as a lot more spacious than it was in real life.
====Other errors====
*The translated script notes multiple buoys being released from ''Squalus'', though only one is depicted by the artwork.
*The lettering calls ''Sculpin'' ''Squalus''{{'}}s "sistership" (i.e. sisterhood) rather than "sister ship".
*"Look, Commander McCann! The lights of ''Sculpin Penacook''." There should probably be an "and" between the two ships' names.
===Continuity errors===
<!--*Lieutenant
*Raising the Squalus-->
==References==
<references/>
==External links==
*[https://exhibits.mclibrary.duke.edu/uss_squalus/shilling-narrative.html We Rescue The Men From The U. S. S. Squalus, by Lt. Comdr. C. W. Shilling (MC) USN]
[[Category:From the Fact Files comic stories]]
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