USS Stickleback (SS-415)
On 28 May 1958, Stickleback was participating in an antisubmarine
warfare exercise with Silverstein (DE-534) and a torpedo retriever boat
in the Hawaiian area. The exercises continued into the afternoon of the next
day when the submarine completed a simulated torpedo run on Silverstein.
As Stickleback was going to a safe depth, she lost power and broached
approximately 200 yards ahead of the destroyer escort. Silverstein
backed full and put her rudder hard left in an effort to avoid a collision but
holed the submarine on her port side.
Stickleback's crew was removed by the retriever boat and combined
efforts were made by Silverstein, Sabalo (SS-302), Sturtevant
(DE-239), and Greenlet (ASR-10), to save the stricken submarine. The
rescue ships put lines around her, but compartment after compartment flooded
and, at 1857 hours on 29 May 1958, Stickleback sank in 1,800 fathoms of
water.