Momsen (DDG 92) - Naval Cruise Book

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Vice Admiral Charles B. Momsen, USN (1896-1967) Charles Bowers S ede Momsen was bom on June 2 1 . 1 896. in Flushing. New York. He receiv ed a congressional appointment to the United States Naval Academy in 1 9 1 6. Ensign Momsen graduated from the Na al Academy on June 7. 1919. and entered acti e ser ice aboard battleships. In Januarv ' of 1 922. Momsen set his sights below the ocean ' s surface and graduated from Submarine School in New London. Connecticut, beginning an illustrious career in the submarine ser ice as Executi e Officer of the submarine LSS 0-13 (SS-74). Momsen commanded submarines USS 0-15 (SS-76). USSR-24(SS-101)andUSSS-l (SS-105) until June 1927. when he began a tour of duty at the Design Di ision of the Bureau of Construction and Repair. Na y Department in Washington. DC. He then transferred to Submarine Base in Pearl Harbor. Hav aii. where he ser ed aboard a minelayer, a submarine tender an d a cruiser. As a member of the Submarine Safety Test Unit on Sub USS S-4 from June 1 929 to September 1 932. Momsen earned the Distinguished Ser ice Medal for the de elopment of what became know n as the Momsen Lung , an apparatus designed to allow trapped submariners to get to the ocean ' s surface from depths of tw o hundred feet; a ariant is still used by the Na ' y today. The young Lieutenant ' s interest in subsurface safet ' continued at the Washington Na y Yard. He de eloped a new set of decompression tables and pioneered the mi.xing of helium and oxygen in deep di ing operations, w hich are still employed today.

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Perhaps his most note worthy achievcmcin. LCDR Momsen ' s most dramatic professional test occurred in the hours tbllow ing the sini ing of USS SOUALUS(SS-192) in 240 feet of water off New Hampshire ' s Isles of Shoals on May 23. 1 939. He and the rescue ship USS FALCON rushed to save the 33 imprisoned survivors. Thirty-nine hours later, in the first ever submarine rescue attempt . ail surviving crewmembers were safely brought to the surface in a rescue chamber that Momsen had developed. For the next 113 days, LCDR Momsen superv ised the salvage of USS SQUALUS. which v as returned to Portsmouth Na y Shipyard for repair and re- commissioned as USS S.MLFISH.