I am just finishing up an oral history with a EN2(SS) who served 1957-1961, and was on USS Stickleback SS-415 when she was rammed and sunk by USS Silverstein DE-534 off of Pearl Harbor in May 1958. The USS Greenlet ASR-10 tied up on her starboard side and passed air hoses over to the boat to pressurize FTR, Forward Battery, and Control Room. As you can guess, with the size of the hole right at the bulkhead between Forward Battery and the Control Room, it was of no use. She finally succumbed to progressive flooding in the after compartments late that afternoon. There are two interesting photo's of her right before she took the final plunge on the USS Current website. Current was on scene and standing by, but took no active part in salvage efforts.

The guy I am interviewing told me that the skipper of the Silverstein was responsible for everyone getting out of the boat alive because he kept the bow lodged in her side until Greenlet arrived on the scene. His decision slowed the flooding and allowed 8 men trapped in the Forward Battery to make it into the FTR after the collision, and the men in the FTR to get out via the hatch in the escape trunk because the bow was still out of the water. Once Silverstein backed out, Stickleback took a pronounced port list and put her bow under water. The auxiliaryman trying to hook up air hoses to the external salvage fittings on the forward deck was working in knee deep water. The whole story of how it happened and what happened to the crew afterward is quite interesting.