4. The Navy’s best sailors were allowed to volunteer for submarines
During World War I the US Navy viewed the submarine as a chiefly defensive weapon, with limited range and seagoing endurance. Beginning in 1920 and through 1925 the Navy commissioned 51 submarines designated as S boats. Unnamed, and assigned numbers such a S-1, S-2, and so on, the boats were the first of the US Navy designed for long-range patrols. The men who crewed them were all volunteers, some of whom were inspired by the fact that submariners earned more money. In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt experienced a dive on the submarine USS Plunger. Following his dive, the President directed officers and enlisted men in submarines receive hazardous duty pay in addition to their regular compensation. Until then, the Navy considered submarine duty as equivalent to shore duty, and the men aboard submarines received less money than their counterparts in surface ships.
The extra pay attracted volunteers to the submarine service, and the newer S boats offered more opportunities for sailors interested in the undersea service. In the 1920s, the senior Naval hierarchy still did not consider submarines to be useful beyond scouting and commerce raiding. But the public came to view submarines with awe, especially after several accidents led to the loss of S boats. Dramatic stories of sailors tapping out Morse Code messages to communicate with their would-be rescuers on one occasion (the loss of S-4 in 1927) reinforced the public belief in the hazardous nature of submarines. Sailors in submarines earned a special cachet among the armed forces and in the public eye, becoming the elite of the US Navy during the 1920s.