1
00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,000
Speaker 1: Hey there, history fans. We're off this week while I

2
00:00:03,000 --> 00:00:06,160
Speaker 1: complete a cross country move. But don't worry. We've got

3
00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:08,920
Speaker 1: plenty of classic shows to tide you over, and be

4
00:00:08,960 --> 00:00:11,600
Speaker 1: sure to meet me back here on September eleventh for

5
00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:14,160
Speaker 1: a brand new episode.

6
00:00:14,760 --> 00:00:17,759
Speaker 2: Welcome to This Day in History Class from HowStuffWorks dot

7
00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:19,759
Speaker 2: com and from the desk of Stuff You Missed in

8
00:00:19,840 --> 00:00:22,320
Speaker 2: History Class. It's the show where we explore the past

9
00:00:22,480 --> 00:00:24,560
Speaker 2: one day at a time with a quick look at

10
00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:32,200
Speaker 2: what happened today in history. Hello, and welcome to the podcast.

11
00:00:32,240 --> 00:00:35,680
Speaker 2: I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and it's September first. On this

12
00:00:35,800 --> 00:00:39,000
Speaker 2: day in nineteen twenty, there was a catastrophe aboard a

13
00:00:39,080 --> 00:00:42,600
Speaker 2: submarine called the S five, also known as the SS

14
00:00:42,800 --> 00:00:46,560
Speaker 2: one ten. The S five was an S class submarine

15
00:00:46,600 --> 00:00:49,880
Speaker 2: from the US Submarine Force, and it left Boston Navy

16
00:00:49,920 --> 00:00:53,440
Speaker 2: Yard on its very first mission on Monday, August thirtieth,

17
00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,120
Speaker 2: nineteen twenty. It was supposed to get to Baltimore and

18
00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,720
Speaker 2: Maryland on September third, and the crew was supposed to

19
00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:03,960
Speaker 2: do maneuvers and training along the way. On September first,

20
00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:07,040
Speaker 2: they were supposed to do a crash dive that would

21
00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,600
Speaker 2: take the submarine from the surface down to periscope depth

22
00:01:10,680 --> 00:01:15,560
Speaker 2: in under a minute. But this drill didn't go as planned.

23
00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,720
Speaker 2: It turned out that one of the air valves didn't

24
00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,720
Speaker 2: seal correctly and water started filling up the sub's ballast

25
00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:26,080
Speaker 2: tanks when it shouldn't. The valves that were being used

26
00:01:26,080 --> 00:01:29,800
Speaker 2: were really hard to wrangle, so Gunner's mate, Percy Fox

27
00:01:29,920 --> 00:01:33,520
Speaker 2: went to try to help the situation. Only problem was

28
00:01:33,640 --> 00:01:36,360
Speaker 2: that when he did that, he didn't complete his own

29
00:01:36,480 --> 00:01:39,000
Speaker 2: task that he needed to do before the dive, which

30
00:01:39,080 --> 00:01:43,000
Speaker 2: was to close the main induction valve. So when the

31
00:01:43,040 --> 00:01:47,559
Speaker 2: command was given to dive and they began diving, water

32
00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:51,640
Speaker 2: started pouring into the inside of the submarine. It fell

33
00:01:51,720 --> 00:01:56,080
Speaker 2: to Lieutenant Commander Charles M. Cook Junior, also known as Savvy,

34
00:01:56,440 --> 00:02:00,200
Speaker 2: to figure out how to save everyone's lives as this

35
00:02:00,440 --> 00:02:03,960
Speaker 2: submarine sank to the bottom of the ocean. First, he

36
00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,040
Speaker 2: tried to seal off all the parts of the submarine

37
00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,360
Speaker 2: that had filled up with about seventy five tons of

38
00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:12,040
Speaker 2: water that wasn't supposed to be there. He sealed those

39
00:02:12,080 --> 00:02:15,040
Speaker 2: things off, He blew the ballast tanks. That didn't help.

40
00:02:15,480 --> 00:02:18,560
Speaker 2: He started trying to force out the water using pumps,

41
00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:22,800
Speaker 2: which also was not effective. Then he used compressed air

42
00:02:23,080 --> 00:02:27,840
Speaker 2: and that did work. It cleared some of the unnecessary water,

43
00:02:28,280 --> 00:02:31,320
Speaker 2: but the result was only that the stern of the

44
00:02:31,360 --> 00:02:35,560
Speaker 2: submarine started rising up. The rest of the submarine was

45
00:02:35,600 --> 00:02:43,960
Speaker 2: still underwater. Even though after this compressed air attempt was

46
00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:49,560
Speaker 2: sort of successful, the subs started slowly slowly rising back

47
00:02:49,639 --> 00:02:53,000
Speaker 2: up in the water. This near vertical position meant that

48
00:02:53,080 --> 00:02:56,680
Speaker 2: water was running into the battery room, and if the

49
00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:59,600
Speaker 2: water spent too much time in contact with the batteries,

50
00:02:59,600 --> 00:03:03,880
Speaker 2: that had the potential to form toxic chlorine gas. After

51
00:03:04,160 --> 00:03:08,000
Speaker 2: several hours, twenty feet or so of the boat were

52
00:03:08,080 --> 00:03:09,880
Speaker 2: up out of the water, but the escape patch that

53
00:03:09,919 --> 00:03:12,280
Speaker 2: they would need to get out of was still way underwater.

54
00:03:12,440 --> 00:03:16,200
Speaker 2: So the crew of this submarine started trying to drill

55
00:03:16,320 --> 00:03:20,120
Speaker 2: their way out through three quarter inch thick steel. They

56
00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:23,799
Speaker 2: had an electric drill that they almost immediately burned the

57
00:03:23,840 --> 00:03:26,880
Speaker 2: motor out of, so they had to use a manual drill,

58
00:03:26,919 --> 00:03:29,400
Speaker 2: the kind that you crank and crank and crank and

59
00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:32,560
Speaker 2: cranked try to get out of the submarine. They did

60
00:03:32,600 --> 00:03:35,960
Speaker 2: make a hole, but as the hole let air escape

61
00:03:36,000 --> 00:03:39,080
Speaker 2: from the sub that meant more water was coming in

62
00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,240
Speaker 2: so this turned into a race for the crew to

63
00:03:42,280 --> 00:03:44,560
Speaker 2: try to cut their way out of this hole before

64
00:03:44,600 --> 00:03:48,040
Speaker 2: they all drowned or ran out of oxygen. The lack

65
00:03:48,080 --> 00:03:53,280
Speaker 2: of oxygen became an increasingly huge problem. Eventually, Lieutenant Commander Cook,

66
00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:55,400
Speaker 2: one of the few men still conscious at that point,

67
00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:58,000
Speaker 2: saw a ship through the hole that they had made.

68
00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:00,480
Speaker 2: He flagged it down using a shirt that was tied

69
00:04:00,520 --> 00:04:04,200
Speaker 2: onto a copper pipe. The SS Alanthis came to help.

70
00:04:04,520 --> 00:04:07,240
Speaker 2: They secured the S five with chains and cables so

71
00:04:07,280 --> 00:04:10,000
Speaker 2: that it wouldn't sink back into the water. Then they

72
00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,480
Speaker 2: had to pass that hand drill out through the hole.

73
00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:16,640
Speaker 2: Because the alanthis didn't have any kind of drill to help,

74
00:04:17,800 --> 00:04:20,920
Speaker 2: they kept on with the manual drilling. Another ship called

75
00:04:20,960 --> 00:04:24,279
Speaker 2: the SS General George W. Girtels passed by and came

76
00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:28,240
Speaker 2: to assist as well, and finally, thirty six hours after

77
00:04:28,320 --> 00:04:31,400
Speaker 2: the original incident, they had a hole big enough for

78
00:04:31,480 --> 00:04:35,839
Speaker 2: the crew to crawl through. The crew began evacuating. Cook

79
00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:39,080
Speaker 2: was the last person to leave the sub at that point,

80
00:04:39,120 --> 00:04:44,000
Speaker 2: he had been awake for more than two days. Everyone

81
00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:48,200
Speaker 2: was rescued. The submarine sank back down to the seafloor

82
00:04:48,279 --> 00:04:51,360
Speaker 2: for a long time, its exact location was lost, although

83
00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:54,080
Speaker 2: it was rediscovered in two thousand and one. You can

84
00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,200
Speaker 2: learn more about this incident and the dramatic rescue in

85
00:04:57,240 --> 00:04:59,600
Speaker 2: the November twenty six, twenty fourteen, episode of Stuff You

86
00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:02,440
Speaker 2: Missed in History Class. Thanks to Tarry Harrison for her

87
00:05:02,480 --> 00:05:05,720
Speaker 2: audio work on this podcast. You can subscribe to the

88
00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,800
Speaker 2: Stay in History Class on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and

89
00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,960
Speaker 2: wherever else you get your podcasts. Tune in tomorrow for

90
00:05:12,040 --> 00:05:22,200
Speaker 2: a catastrophic fire. This Day in History Class is a

91
00:05:22,240 --> 00:05:23,440
Speaker 2: production of iHeartRadio.

92
00:05:24,720 --> 00:05:28,440
Speaker 3: Hi There, Welcome to This Day in History Class, where

93
00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,119
Speaker 3: we sift through the artifacts of history seven days a week.

94
00:05:40,240 --> 00:05:45,160
Speaker 3: The day was September one, nineteen sixty nine. Idurus, the

95
00:05:45,200 --> 00:05:48,359
Speaker 3: first and only king of Libya, was overthrown in a

96
00:05:48,400 --> 00:05:52,240
Speaker 3: coup while he was in Turkey for medical treatment. More

97
00:05:52,240 --> 00:05:56,080
Speaker 3: and More Gadaffi, a Libyan army officer, was named Commander

98
00:05:56,120 --> 00:05:59,200
Speaker 3: in Chief of the Armed Forces and the chairman of

99
00:05:59,240 --> 00:06:05,480
Speaker 3: the Revolutionaire Command Council, Libya's new governing body. Gadaffi reigned

100
00:06:05,520 --> 00:06:08,880
Speaker 3: for forty two years until he was killed in October

101
00:06:08,920 --> 00:06:14,240
Speaker 3: of twenty eleven. Gaddafi was a controversial figure, with some

102
00:06:14,400 --> 00:06:18,160
Speaker 3: viewing him as an oppressive and eccentric dictator, and others

103
00:06:18,320 --> 00:06:24,679
Speaker 3: praising his reforms, charisma and anti imperialism. Kadafi was born

104
00:06:24,760 --> 00:06:28,479
Speaker 3: in Libya when it was an Italian colony. Libya gained

105
00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:32,440
Speaker 3: its independence in nineteen fifty one, and it became a

106
00:06:32,520 --> 00:06:38,920
Speaker 3: constitutional and hereditary monarchy under King Idris First. Early on,

107
00:06:39,360 --> 00:06:43,880
Speaker 3: Gaddafi was politically active. He was a fan of Egyptian

108
00:06:43,920 --> 00:06:48,760
Speaker 3: President Gamal Apdale Nasser, who advocated for socialism and Arab

109
00:06:48,839 --> 00:06:54,760
Speaker 3: nationalism and argued against Western colonialism. Gaddafi himself was a

110
00:06:54,800 --> 00:06:59,360
Speaker 3: devout Muslim, an Arab nationalist and critical of the monarchy

111
00:06:59,520 --> 00:07:05,560
Speaker 3: under King Idris. He read works by revolutionaries and about revolution.

112
00:07:06,839 --> 00:07:11,600
Speaker 3: In the early nineteen sixties, Kadafi began military training in Benghazi.

113
00:07:11,960 --> 00:07:16,520
Speaker 3: He graduated from the Royal Military Academy in nineteen sixty five,

114
00:07:17,640 --> 00:07:20,040
Speaker 3: but while he was there he became part of the

115
00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:24,480
Speaker 3: Free Unionist Officers movement. Inspired by the Egyptian Free Officers,

116
00:07:25,720 --> 00:07:29,200
Speaker 3: he and some of his friends planned to overthrow King Idris.

117
00:07:30,320 --> 00:07:33,720
Speaker 3: The monarch was falling out of favor with more Libyans

118
00:07:34,160 --> 00:07:38,240
Speaker 3: as Arab nationalism gained support and people were unhappy with

119
00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:43,880
Speaker 3: the monarchy's corruption and ties to Western nations. After rising

120
00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:46,800
Speaker 3: through the ranks of the military and gaining power within

121
00:07:46,920 --> 00:07:50,920
Speaker 3: the Free Unionist Officer's Movement, Kadafi decided to stage a

122
00:07:51,000 --> 00:07:55,160
Speaker 3: coup with his fellow officers to overthrow the Libyan monarchy.

123
00:07:56,360 --> 00:08:00,440
Speaker 3: On September one, nineteen sixty nine, dozens of officers in

124
00:08:00,480 --> 00:08:04,160
Speaker 3: the Free Officer's Movement overthrew the monarchy in a bloodless

125
00:08:04,200 --> 00:08:08,320
Speaker 3: coup while Idris was out of the country. After just

126
00:08:08,400 --> 00:08:13,480
Speaker 3: a few days, the Libyan Arab Republic was declared. Experienced

127
00:08:13,480 --> 00:08:18,080
Speaker 3: officers and civilians were appointed to senior government positions. But

128
00:08:18,520 --> 00:08:22,280
Speaker 3: while the Revolutionary Command Council was in theory meant to

129
00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:26,600
Speaker 3: discuss issues until it consensus was reached, Gaddafi suppressed his

130
00:08:26,640 --> 00:08:31,680
Speaker 3: opposition and exerted his own will. Gaddafi had taken over

131
00:08:31,760 --> 00:08:36,400
Speaker 3: Libya at just twenty seven years old. Gadafi made changes

132
00:08:36,480 --> 00:08:40,720
Speaker 3: under what he called Islamic socialism. He closed American and

133
00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:45,120
Speaker 3: British military basis in Libya. He replaced the Gregorian calendar

134
00:08:45,160 --> 00:08:48,760
Speaker 3: with the Islamic one, and people were required to use

135
00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:55,080
Speaker 3: Arabic in official and public communications. Gaddafi nationalized finance, business,

136
00:08:55,160 --> 00:09:00,000
Speaker 3: and industry, including big oil interests. He also banned alcol

137
00:09:00,520 --> 00:09:05,160
Speaker 3: and nightclubs and declared the Koran the law of the land.

138
00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:10,200
Speaker 3: In nineteen seventy, he expelled all Italians from Libya. He

139
00:09:10,320 --> 00:09:15,000
Speaker 3: also opposed Zionism in Israel and expelled Jewish people from Libya,

140
00:09:16,080 --> 00:09:20,920
Speaker 3: and Gaddafi supported Pan Arab unity. He criminalized political dissent,

141
00:09:21,360 --> 00:09:24,280
Speaker 3: and he worked to turn Libya away from the West

142
00:09:24,440 --> 00:09:29,319
Speaker 3: and toward the Middle East in Africa. Gadafi eventually transitioned

143
00:09:29,400 --> 00:09:33,360
Speaker 3: to a style of government that he called Third International Theory,

144
00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:39,599
Speaker 3: under which he further distributed wealth among citizens in funded housing, agriculture,

145
00:09:39,720 --> 00:09:43,959
Speaker 3: and health care. He summarized the tenets of his Third

146
00:09:44,000 --> 00:09:48,200
Speaker 3: International Theory in a series called The Green Book. The

147
00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:52,280
Speaker 3: texts explained the problems with liberal democracy and capitalism and

148
00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:58,199
Speaker 3: uplifted Gaddafi's policies. Throughout the nineteen seventies, Libya intervened in

149
00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:02,720
Speaker 3: the affairs of neighboring countries and forged agreements with others.

150
00:10:03,840 --> 00:10:08,199
Speaker 3: Gaddafi's role was divisive. He encouraged groups to kill Libyan

151
00:10:08,200 --> 00:10:13,200
Speaker 3: dissidents in exile abroad. Western nations, especially the United States,

152
00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:17,600
Speaker 3: took issue with Gadafi and Libya's support of terrorist and

153
00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:22,160
Speaker 3: revolutionary groups around the world, like Palestinian groups, the Irish

154
00:10:22,240 --> 00:10:26,199
Speaker 3: Republican Army, the Black Panthers, and the Japanese Red Army.

155
00:10:27,240 --> 00:10:32,119
Speaker 3: Gaddafi has been accused of sexual abuse. He also instituted

156
00:10:32,160 --> 00:10:35,480
Speaker 3: social programs that improved the standard of living in Libya

157
00:10:35,960 --> 00:10:39,960
Speaker 3: and garnered a cult of personality around his peculiar persona.

158
00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:44,319
Speaker 3: For instance, he traveled with a group of women bodyguards

159
00:10:44,320 --> 00:10:48,760
Speaker 3: and heels, and many supported his vision of Pan Africanism

160
00:10:49,200 --> 00:10:54,360
Speaker 3: and African self sufficiency. Tensions between Gadafi and Western nations

161
00:10:54,400 --> 00:10:58,520
Speaker 3: east in the nineteen nineties, but in twenty eleven, Gadafi

162
00:10:58,760 --> 00:11:02,400
Speaker 3: was captured and killed during the Battle of Seart, with

163
00:11:02,559 --> 00:11:05,040
Speaker 3: an autopsy revealing that he was shot in the head.

164
00:11:07,320 --> 00:11:09,760
Speaker 3: I'm Eave Jeff Coat, and hopefully you know a little

165
00:11:09,800 --> 00:11:13,640
Speaker 3: more about history today than you did yesterday. Thank you

166
00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,160
Speaker 3: so much for listening, and I hope to see you

167
00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:25,439
Speaker 3: again tomorrow for more tidbits of history.

168
00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:31,600
Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,

169
00:11:31,679 --> 00:11:33,360
Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.