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USS A-7

Manila Bay. In the early spring of 1917, Lt. (j.g.) Arnold Marcus assumed command of A-7. On 24 July 1917, shortly after the submarine to rpedo boat's engine had been overhauled, gasoline fumes ignited and caused an explosion and fire while in the course of a patrol in Manila Bay.

After Marcus and his men had battled the blaze, he ordered the crew topside and into the boats that had been summoned alongside. The last man to emerge from the interior of the crippled submersible, Marcus sent up distress signals to the nearby monitor Monadnock and then took the helm himself in an attempt to beach the ship. He refused medical treatment until all his men had been attended to (six later died) and had to be ordered to leave his post. The gallant Marcus died the next day 25 July 1917, of the effects of the explosion and fire that had ravaged his command. The Navy recognized this young officer's selfless heroism in naming a ship, Marcus (Destroyer No. 321), in his honor.

The men listed below are the entire crew:

EMC J.M. Currie

MM2 I.P. Hixon

GM2 Otho Hopewell

MM1 J.A. Kunz

MM1 Harold H. Lang

Ltjg Arnold Marcus