Free Republic

The submarine mysteriously went down in 1963, killing everyone on board. Thanks to a lawsuit, we're about to learn why. A retired U.S. Navy submarine commander sued the Navy to release an official report on the sinking of the USS Thresher—and won. Thresher sank in April 1963, lost with all hands, but there has never been an official explanation as to why. The loss of Thresher lead to an improved culture of safety in the Navy, and since 1968, the service hasn’t lost a single submarine. ================================================================== A retired U.S. Navy submarine commander has won a lawsuit forcing the Navy...

A U.S. District Court judge ordered the Navy to start releasing unclassified documents related to the sinking of USS Thresher (SSN-593), 57 years after 129 officers, sailors and shipbuilders died in the nation’s worst nuclear submarine disaster. Retired Navy Capt. James Bryant, a former Thresher-class submarine commander, sued the Navy in July to force the release of unclassified investigation documents detailing Thresher‘s operation during its final dive. The Navy previously rebuffed Bryant’s request for records under the Freedom of Information Act. During a Monday court hearing, Judge Trevor McFadden ordered the Navy to start releasing the requested material. Bryant, while...

On Saturday, April 10, 2010 a memorial service will be held at the R.W. Traip Academy honoring the loss of 129 crew members, US Naval Submarine Officer Observers, and civilian support personnel aboard the USS Thresher during sea trials off of the New England coast 47 years ago to the day on April 10, 1963. The Memorial Service will begin at 1300. The R.W. Traip Academy front doors will open at 1130 and remain open until 1500. On April 10, 1963, the USS Thresher, the lead ship of a new class of nuclear-powered attack submarines, was conducting sea trials off...

A mission to find the lost wreck of the Titanic was actually a cover story for inspecting the wrecks of two nuclear submarines, the man who discovered the famous liner has revealed. Dr Bob Ballard led a team in 1985 that pinpointed the wreckage of the enormous ship 73 years after it sank in the Atlantic. But he almost didn't succeed after his top secret mission to find two Cold War subs left him with just 12 days to find the Titanic. The United States Navy lost two submarines during the 1960s - the USS Thresher and USS Scorpion -...

The man who located the wreck of the Titanic has revealed that the discovery was a cover story to camouflage the real mission of inspecting the wrecks of two Cold War nuclear submarines. When Bob Ballard led a team that pinpointed the wreckage of the liner in 1985 he had already completed his main task of finding out what happened to USS Thresher and USS Scorpion. Both of the United States Navy vessels sank during the 1960s, killing more than 200 men and giving rise to fears that at least one of them, Scorpion, had been sunk by the USSR....