By Jon Humboldt Gates. In the early days of submarining, before the Great War, two U.S. submarine disasters riveted the nation as the stories unfolded. In Hawaii, the USS F-4 left Honolulu on a routine training run and disappeared. At Northern California’s Humboldt Bay, the USS H-3 crashed onto the sea floor during a treacherous bar crossing attempt. Jack Agraz would dive to record levels in the search for F-4 and led rescue efforts from inside the trapped H-3. Duane Steward tells of the struggle to stay alive in the H-3. The experiences of these early pioneer submariners would become the impetus for establishing the U.S. Navy Submarine School in 1917. In 1924, the Dolphins insignia - a submarine flanked by two dolphins - would be introduced as a symbol of achieving true submarine qualifications.