Thomas Eadie

Medal of Honor: Navy diver descended 102 feet to free a trapped shipmate

A Navy diver became entangled on a line 102 feet below the surface during the desperate effort to reach the sunken submarine USS S-4. Chief Gunner’s Mate Thomas Eadie went down after him. For more than two hours, Eadie worked in hazardous conditions to free his fellow diver, Chief Torpedoman Michels, and bring him safely back to the surface. The rescue on December 18, 1927, earned Eadie the Medal of Honor.

A Navy gunner’s mate trained for deep-water work

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, on April 8, 1887, Eadie moved with his family to the United States as a child and enlisted in the Navy in 1905. He trained as both a gunner’s mate and a diver, combining technical skill with the demanding work of underwater salvage. He served until 1913, then returned to the Navy during the First World War era and continued in diving and salvage assignments.

Eadie had already helped recover the submarine USS S-51, which sank after a collision off Rhode Island in 1925. That operation earned him a Navy Cross. The later loss of USS S-4 would bring another, far more perilous rescue.

The S-4 rescue

On December 17, 1927, the Coast Guard cutter Paulding collided with S-4 off Provincetown, Massachusetts. The submarine sank with its crew aboard. Navy divers worked in dangerous winter conditions to reach the wreck and support rescue efforts. Six submariners initially survived inside, communicating with rescuers by tapping on the hull, but weather and the difficulty of reaching them defeated attempts to save them. All 40 men aboard ultimately died.

During the diving operation the next day, Michels became seriously fouled while trying to connect an air line to the submarine at a depth of 102 feet. Eadie immediately descended to help. Working for two hours in the confined, cold water, he carefully freed Michels and guided him back to the surface. The Medal of Honor citation highlights the deliberate risk Eadie accepted and his cool, skillful work under adverse conditions. Eadie received the medal from President Calvin Coolidge at the White House in January 1928.

He later served in the Navy during the Second World War and retired as a lieutenant in 1946. Eadie died in 1974. His rescue is remembered as an extraordinary act of professional courage amid a submarine disaster in which the trapped crew could not be reached.

Medal of Honor citation

“For display of extraordinary heroism in the line of his profession above and beyond the call of duty on 18 December 1927, during the diving operations in connection with the sinking of the U.S.S. S-4 with all on board, as a result of a collision off Provincetown, Mass. On this occasion when Michels, Chief Torpedoman, United States Navy, while attempting to connect an air line to the submarine at a depth of 102 feet became seriously fouled, Eadie, under the most adverse diving conditions, deliberately, knowingly, and willingly took his own life in his hands by promptly descending to the rescue in response to the desperate need of his companion diver. After two hours of extremely dangerous and heartbreaking work, by his cool, calculating, and skillful labors, he succeeded in his mission and brought Michels safely to the surface.”