Chief Radarman Pool reported escalating abdominal pain after several days of hoping it would pass. Commander James E. Stark, Triton's medical officer, diagnosed a likely kidney stone and could manage the pain while waiting to see whether it passed. The equipment needed for serious complications was available only in a hospital, so Beach had to consider an evacuation point and whether surfacing would end the voyage's submerged record. A temporary improvement proved misleading when a more severe attack followed, possibly from a second stone. The episode shows how an ordinary illness can become a command decision during a prolonged submerged operation.
Notable Point · 56:08-1:01:57
A kidney stone tests submerged-command judgment
A sailor's severe kidney-stone attack forced Beach to balance medical risk, limited treatment options, and the possibility that surfacing would end Sandblast's defining record.