USS Thresher, lead ship of a class of 3700-ton nuclear-powered attack submarines, was built at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Kittery, Maine. Commissioned in August 1961, she conducted lengthy trails in the western Atlantic and Caribbean areas in 1961 and 1962, providing a thorough evaluation of her many new technological features and weapons. After the completion of these test operations Thresher returned to her builders for overhaul. On 10 April 1963, after the completion of the work, Thresher began post-overhaul trials. Accompanied by the submarine rescue ship Skylark ASR-20 she transited to an area some 220 miles east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts and started deep diving tests. As these proceeded garbled communications were received by Skylark indicating trouble aboard the submarine. It gradually became apparent that she had sunk taking the lives of 129 officers, crewmen and civilian technicians. After an extensive underwater search utilizing the bathyscaph Trieste, oceanographic ship Mizar, and other ships Thresher's shattered remains were located on the sea floor some 8400 feet below the surface. Deep sea photography recovered artifacts and an evaluation of her design and operations permitted a Court of Inquiry to determine that she had probably sunk due to a piping failure, subsequent loss of power and inability to blow ballast tanks rapidly enough to avoid sinking.
Ship Designation:
SSN -593
Date Lost:
Wednesday, April 10, 1963
Lost at Sea
Lost At Sea Log
Number of sailors in this log: 129
Name | Service Branch |
---|---|
MM3 Robert Kearney | USN |
CS2 Ronald Muise | USN |
ETN2 Anthony Rushetski | USN |
LTJG John Wiley | USN |
EM2 Edgar Bobbitt | USN |
ET1 Raymond Foti | USN |
MM2 Marvin Helsius | USN |
IC2 Ronald Keiler | USN |
ETN2 James Musselwhite | USN |
EM1 James Schiewe | USN |
MMCA Donald Wise | USN |
TM2 Steven Cayey | USN |
FTM2 Larry Freeman | USN |
LTJG James Henry | USN |
MM2 George Kiesecker | USN |
CS1 Donald Nault | USN |
EMCM Benjamin Shafer | USN |
QMSN Ronald Wolfe | USN |
SN Edward Christiansen | USN |
EM2 Gregory Fusco | USN |