USS Thresher (SSN-593) lost 41 Years ago today

[Submariner]

The USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank with all hands on april 10, 1963. Thresher was undergoing deep-diving exercises off Nantucket.

About fifteen minutes after reaching test depth, the catastrophic failure of a pipe joint in the engineering spaces caused uncontrollable flooding and the boat was lost with all 129 people on board.





http://www.history.navy.mil/photos/sh-usn/usnsh-t/ssn593-l.htm



Wreck of USS Thresher (SSN-593)

"Mosaic of the sail. The conning station is at Arrow (1), upside down with the leading edge to the left in this photograph. The sail planes (2) are completely reversed. Below the sail is a torpedo shutter door (3). An air bottle is at (4) ... . Actuating gear for torpedo shutter door (5)." Quoted text is from the caption released with the original image, which was received by the Naval Photographic Center in December 1966.

I was 16 then and joined the boat service 3 years later. My mother said “I knew I shouldn’t have let you watch ‘Silent Service’ and ‘Victory at Sea’ on TV.” She was worried, but I told her it was all Lloyd Bridges fault because in ‘Sea Hunt’ he always survived everything, so I’ll be okay. Mom still didn’t like the idea.

"Sailors Rest Your Oars"

http://www.subnet.com/fleet/ssn593.htm

[BOSSHOG]

1. Our Shipmates are still on Patrol

God Bless em and a special thank you to all who served in Submarines. Something I could never have done.

[Skittles]

2. my dad's cousin died on the Scorpion

it is indeed special duty.

[cosmicdot]

5. a neighbor's best friend cooked on the Scorpion; retired just before

the Scorpion was lost

[Skittles]

10. his mom, to the end of her days

always felt he was still on patrol with his buddies; it comforted her.

[Old and In the Way]

3. My dad had 2 friends that died on the Thresher. He took it hard.

I guess I was pretty young (11) at the time, but I remember his reaction to the news like it was yesterday.

[DrWeird]

4. My grampa served on the USS Halibut.

He saw action in the battle of Leyte Gulf and several other skirmishes.

They took a depth charge very close to the hull. According to the skipper's autobiograpy they were the most heavily damaged boat ever to limp back to port.

[Submariner]

6. The Halibut was so damaged

it was beyond repair.

I served on Gato and Balao class diesel boats like your gramps, and serving in the '60s with the last of the aging WWII vets on board was a great experience because those guys had been there and done that (BTDT).

http://www.subnet.com/fleet/ss232.htm

[MaineDem]

7. A family friend was a civilian engineer

He was scheduled to go on the sea trials but a colleague went in his place.

To those in peril on the sea....

[Loki]

8. My dad was a submariner during WWII

stationed out of Pearl 1942 thru 1945. Lost a lot of his hearing being depth charged in the Pacific. I remember when the Thresher was lost, it hit him really hard.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

9. I remember that

Was it really 41 years ago? I must have been in seventh grade...