T-3 Anchored Six Miles Out—Relief Boat Ordered to Tow Craft to Port.
By the Associated Press.
KEY WEST, Fla., January 30.
The submarine T-3 was reported late tonight as anchored off the Florida coast near where she was disabled today when trouble developed in her fuel line and caused an exhaustion of the oil supply.
The submarine T-3, commanded by Lieut. J. P. Compton, has run out of oil off Florida and is in need of assistance, the Navy Department was informed in a message last night from the commandant of the seventh naval district at Key West.
The first message received said the T-3 was off Bethel Buoy, with her lubricating oil system leaking badly and her supply low. An effort was being made to reach Miami. A later message said:
“Can proceed no farther. Establish position 6 miles bearing 5 degrees from Bethel Shoals Buoy. Require assistance to reach port.”
The tug Bay Springs was en route to the submarine’s assistance, the Navy announced.
The T-3 is not in a dangerous condition, the department believes, inasmuch as her commander pointed out in the first message that she would anchor when the oil supply was exhausted.
The T-3 is a fleet submarine of the first line, and was built by the Fore River Steamboat Corporation.
Although the messages were not received by the Navy Department until tonight, the first radio message relayed here by the 7th District Commandant was filed 1 at 9:40 this morning and the second at 11 o’clock. The delay is believed to have been caused in the communication between the T-3 and Key West.
Evening Star, Washington, DC, January 31, 1926