Slightly off topic, but I was on the sister ship of the USS Thresher (sunk and imploded on sea trials)—- USS Flasher SSN-613. Flasher was supposed to be the next boat out of the yards when Thresher went down. They had to retrofit with the addition of 3” emergency ballast blow lines and add an electric motor to provide propulsion in event of a steam plant shut down, among other changes(lack of both of these contributed to Threshers sinking). I was a bit apprehensive when we went out for a shakedown cruise after 2 years in the shipyard in Vallejo, CA.
The Thresher disaster is the big headline from April 11th on the day I was born
Ever check the headlines from the day you were born?
I commented it was 1993 when they identified the Thresher debris. I misdated the time. It was 1963. I figured they know where this debris was from. I knew a Master Chief who transferred from the Thresher just before they sailed for sea trials. Things in engineering on subs changed back then. We got better at doing submarining but paid a high price to learn. Reckon these guys paid a price for somebody else to learn. A good sonar tech on the attending ship could tell them exactly the moment of failure but he’d most likely be an old white guy. Regards from an old 640 class boomer sailor.