Photo: Jonathan Kim
The sailors buried in this mass grave in Arlington National Cemetery died when their F4 attack submarine--a leaky deathtrap--slid under the Hawaiian waves and never resurfaced.
In the years preceeding WWI, Lt. Alfred "Stoneface" Ede skippered the F4 submarine that would be the first of its kind in the U.S. fleet to sink, killing all souls aboard. The story, as you will hear, is one of a small arms race to make this game-changing technology less of a threat to the lives of the crew and more of a threat to America's enemies.
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In 1915, the submarine looked and acted nothing like its contemporary cousin. Cramped, nearly airless, and leaky, these were ships that barely stayed afloat and submerged to attack.
Once they went below, there was no communication with them. This is the story of one of those ships. Arlington Historian Taylor Zajonc and Radio Mercury producer Jonathan Kim tell the story.
This episode was made possible by the collective creative endeavors of those listed below:
Music:
- Leaf (Broke For Free) / CC BY-NC 3.0
- Sea Legs (Ears) / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
Sounds (at www.freesound.org):
