Charles Momsen

Charles Bowers Momsen (1896 to 1967), nicknamed Swede, was an American officer in the United States Navy remembered as a pioneer of submarine rescue technology and procedure. He invented the underwater escape breathing device that became known as the Momsen lung, an apparatus that allowed a trapped submariner to breathe while ascending from a disabled submarine, for which he received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal in 1929. He is also remembered for directing the rescue in May 1939 of the surviving crew of the submarine USS Squalus, which had flooded and sunk during a test dive, an operation that used the McCann Rescue Chamber, a diving bell system Momsen had also helped develop, to bring 33 sailors to the surface alive. His work fundamentally reshaped United States Navy submarine safety practice, moving rescue capability from largely theoretical procedure to a proven, repeatable operation that saved lives within his own career.