Posted on 08/12/2019 6:25:00 AM PDT by robowombat
Retired Submarine Commander Sues Navy to Release USS Thresher Investigation
By: Ben Werner August 9, 2019 8:57 AM • Updated: August 11, 2019 7:40 PM
A retired nuclear submarine commander filed suit against the Navy to gain access to records classified for more than a half-century after the sinking of USS Thresher (SSN-593) – the Navy’s worst nuclear submarine disaster.
Capt. James Bryant, who served on three Thresher-class subs, including a tour as commanding officer of USS Guardfish (SSN-612), has in his retirement taken to investigating the cause of Thresher’s sinking.
“I’m trying to find out what happened because it’s good lessons learned,” Bryant told USNI News. “You need to have scholars look at this. What are we really protecting? I’m not doing this to embarrass the Navy.”
When Thresher sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean 56 years ago, 129 officers, sailors and shipbuilders died. Thresher was supposed to be the most advanced submarine, and its failure during the height of the Cold War was considered a tremendous disaster, Bryant said.
In the aftermath of Thresher, the Navy created its SubSafe program. Bryant says if the facts were released, the incident could serve as a valuable learning tool.
“A lot of things had to have gone wrong for that submarine to sink,” Bryant said.
A year ago, Bryant wrote in Proceedings why he thinks the Navy should declassify the Thresher investigation. On April 8, 2019, Bryant filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Navy asking for the release of Thresher investigation documents.
Displeased with the slow-pace of the Navy’s response, Bryant filed a lawsuit on July 5 alleging the “Navy has improperly withheld agency records from Plaintiff.”
In response, the Navy denies withholding any records under the Freedom of Information Act, according to an Aug. 8 court filing. A court date for the case has not been set.
Theories about why Thresher sank have circulated since it sent its last garbled report during a deep dive test on April 10, 1963. Some theories revolve any number of possible mechanical failures or design flaws. Others hold to more far-fetched Soviet Navy interference. The official reason involves a ruptured pipe causing flooding that shorted-out electrical panels, resulting in a loss of propulsion at test depth.
Bryant, who spent a significant part of his naval career serving aboard Thresher-class submarines, suspects a problem with Thresher’s main coolant pumps led to the sinking. However, without the Navy records requested in his Freedom of Information Act request, Bryant said there’s no way to determine if any of the theories are correct.
Given the age of the investigation and a 2012 memo from the Navy’s director of undersea warfare, Bryant says the bulk of the Thresher investigation should be releasable.
The Navy’s director of undersea warfare stated in the 2012 memo, “Approximately 75 percent of the records have been declassified and are available for public release through FOIA. The remaining records are classified and are subject to redaction through a mandatory declassification review process before being released.”
However, seven years after the memo, and 56 years since the sinking, Bryant says the Navy has released just 19 pages of more than 1,700 pages of testimony. Bryant is suing to get the Navy to release all declassified Thresher information.
“All they have to do is remove temperatures and pressures and flow rates,” Bryant told USNI News. “We’re not after reactor design, and I doubt very much the court of inquiry went too much into reactor design.”
Bryant also thinks there’s a great untold story of how the nuclear Navy survived the sinking. Adm. Hyman Rickover, during his testimony, successfully made a case to continue building nuclear submarines amid advocacy to back away from the new technology involved in the disaster.
“Naval Reactors has a great story to tell here because Rickover beats these people, he saved a very important program,” Bryant said. “The diesel boat guys wanted to go back to diesel boats, and the Cold War would have had a different history.”
Tommy Cox and Bobby Reed wrote Kursk.
That’s about as funny as...
My understanding of the the Thresher tragedy is this. A reactor scram caused a loss of propulsion. An emergency blow was initiated but was unsuccessful because ice formed in the lines leading to the main ballast tanks due to the cooling effect of the rapid expansion of compressed air.
This is what I learned when I attended submarine school in 1971. I went on to serve on a diesel boat not a nuke. If it was a problem that was with the reactor coolant system then its quite possible that the information is still considered classified today.
Was this the sub that sank about a year after a Russian sub was accidentally sunk?
Electric Boat, a division of General Dynamics.
It will never be known exactly what happened. The debris field is Huge and Deep. Don’t think there are big pieces except maybe the Reactor ? Anybody know anything about that ?
My Condolences to Your Family.
RIP Sir.
This is exactly what I have been told from another source who was in the Navy's submarine program.
This explanation is apparently taught in the Navy's submarine training classes. All subsequent submarines have drain valves for their blow valves to prevent such an event from occurring again.
Big can of worms right there.
My Dad was stationed on the Thresher but decided submarine life was not for him. He went to make the Navy a career, but never forgot the crew of the Thresher. He kept several momentos which I inherited from him. I was born afterwards.
A classic pattern in conspiracy theories. Hundreds had to know, no one says a thing.
That’s how the fish are powering their city.
I said it. Who is listening and ready to follow up?
A dark day.
While rutting around the .net I found this:
https://interestingengineering.com/uss-thresher-and-scorpion-the-uss-lost-nuclear-submarines
I’ve tried several times to copy and paste but it’s blocked so use the LINK above to read some info like Yes there were Nuke Weapons onboard as well as being Nuke Powered.
Also a bit more Detailed Cause of Loss on both Boats.
Again, I send My Condolences out to All Family Members for Their Losses of Loved Ones.
And I Pray for Safety of Our Military, All Branches around the World as They put Their Lives on the line 24/7/365 so We Civilians can putter around on our daily business.
A nuke boat on sea trials.
“The first rule of the Silent Service is you do not talk about the loss of Scorpion. The second rule of the Silent Service is you do not talk about the loss of Scorpion.”
I was in Air Force Intelligence during Vietnam (back in those days it was called USAFSS). We had some Navy Intelligence people stationed with us. They said that Scorpion was sunk by the Soviets, in a kind of tit-for-tat for our sinking a Soviet sub in the Pacific. That is why it was so hushed up.
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