On December 17th. 1927, while surfacing from a submerged run over the measured-mile off Cape Cod near Provincetown, Massachusetts, the S-4 was accidentally rammed and sunk by the United States Coast Guard destroyer Paulding (CG-17) on Rum Patrol. The Paulding stopped and lowered lifeboats, but found only a small amount of oil and air bubbles. Rescue and salvage operations were commenced led by Rear Admiral Frank Brumby, Captain Ernest J. King, Lieutenant Henry Hartley and Commander Edward Ellsberg, only to be thwarted by severe weather. Significant effort was made to rescue six known survivors trapped in the forward torpedo room, who had exchanged a series of signals with the rescue force, by tapping on the hull. As the trapped men used the last of available oxygen in the sub, they sent a morse-coded message, “Is there any hope?” The response, composed by Captain King was: "There is hope. Everything possible is being done." Thwarted by the weather, the rescue force could not rescue the six men and all 40 men aboard were lost.