Ajax (crane barge)

Ajax was called in rescue service after the sinking of United States Navy O-class submarine USS O-5 (SS-66). USS O-5 sank bow first in 42 feet of water on October 28, 1923 at Limon Bay toward the entrance to the Panama Canal. At the time Ajax and Hercules were trapped behind a landslide at the Gaillard Cut, both were working to clear the landslide. Ajax and Hercules worked nonstop until there was space for Ajax to pass through. Ajax traveled to aid O-5, as divers had found there were survivors in 0-5.

Before Ajax arrived divers had already dug a tunnel under O-5's bow for Ajax's lifting cables. Ajax arrived around midnight. Divers completed the cable install under the sub by early morning. Sheppard J. Shreaves was the supervisor of the salvage crew. Sheppard was a qualified diver, had been working himself all throughout the night helping to dig the tunnel under the submarine. Ajax was hooked to the cables run under the sub and worked to hoist the sub up. But the lift cables broke. Shreaves and his crew installed another cable under the bow. Shreaves and his men had been in their diving suits nearly 24 hours working on the rescue. The next lift the cable broke again. Near midnight on the 29th Ajax did its third lift, this lift worked as the divers has pumped air into the sub's flooded Engine Room. The bow of the O-5 broke the surface. The salvage team opened the torpedo room hatch, and two trapped sailors, Henry Breault and Lawrence T. Brown emerged.[10] [11] [12][13]

On June 27, 1955, with the completion of the Panama Canal the Ajax was put up for sale by the Panama Canal Company. The Hercules was kept to do maintenance work on the Panama Canal. Ajax was sold to a Venezuelan firm.[14][15]

In 1972 the Ajax and Hercules were used together to raise the ship SS Sian Yung. Sian Yung was built as a Victory ship in 1944 and named the USS Lincoln Victory serving in The US War Shipping Administration. In 1947 the USS Lincoln was sold to NASM and renamed Aardijk. In 1962 she was sold again to the Chinese Maritime Trust Company and renamed Sian Yung. Sian Yung sank in the Panama Canal in the Gaillard Cut after hitting rocks in 1970. Several salvage attempts were made and failed. The Ajax and Hercules were able to raise her to the point she could be patched, pumped then moved to the Bay of Panama. In the bay she was half sunk into her final resting place along the shore. Sian Yung sunk with a cargo of rice, baled cotton and 200 barrels of heavy fuel oil, these were removed before the Ajax and Hercules raised her.[16][17][18]

In 1966, Hercules crane received a new boiler, it used diesel instead of charcoal fuel. Hercules was used at Panama canal until a new floating crane was purchased, the Herman the German also called the Titan, a 350-ton crane, that replaced Hercules in 1996. The Hercules crane is now part of the reserve fleet at the Panama canal.[19]

• Samson (crane barge)

• Friedman, Norman (1995). U.S. Submarines Through 1945: An Illustrated Design History. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-263-3.
• Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.

This article incorporates text from the public domain Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships. The entry can be found here.

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Navy.

• Grigore Jr., Julius (February 1972). "The O-5 is Down!". Proceedings. Annapolis, MD: United States Naval Institute. 98 (2): 54–60. Retrieved 9 February 2012.

• Photo gallery of USS O-5 at NavSource Naval History
• On Eternal Patrol: USS O-5