"Rescue Us!"

The submarine Dumlupinar--formerly the U.S.S. Bumper--was one of the finest boats in Turkey's underwater fleet. Last week she joined the NATO "Rendezvous" maneuvers in the Mediterranean, then headed home for Istanbul and shore leave for her crew of 86 U.S.-trained Turkish officers and seamen. Running on the surface in the treacherous waters of the Dardanelles early one foggy morning, the Dumlupinar collided with the Swedish freighter Naboland. The sub's hull split, her stern reared into the air, her bow began to go down.

The Dumlupinar's skipper, Sabri Tchelebioglu, and four others were thrown clear of the submarine, and survived. The rest of the crew--81 in all--were trapped inside as the Dumlupinar slowly settled in 228 feet of water, to the bottom of the straits.

For the sailors in the smashed and flooded bow, death was swift. But 22 men in a watertight compartment in the stern managed to release a marker buoy with a telephone inside. For 30 hours they waited in darkness and cold, while U.S. and Turkish rescue crews tried desperately to lift the sub or to pry open the escape hatch. "Rescue us!" the trapped men pleaded over the telephone. "We have air for only a few hours. If you cannot save us, please send our last greetings to our families."

At dawn it was raining. Heavy seas and a swift current made diving difficult and dangerous, but the rescuers toiled all day and into the next night. Over the phone one of the trapped men said: "We are praying to Allah while we wait for death. We have only about 90 minutes of oxygen left." Then telephone contact was broken. At noon, on Easter Sunday, the divers surfaced, wearily pulled off their helmets. Said a Turkish spokesman: "There is no hope any more."

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