12. The loss of USS Thresher in 1963 caused military and civilian casualties
In April 1963, USS Thresher went to sea following an extended shipyard overhaul. On April 9 Thresher was put to sea to conduct trials, including deep diving trials. It submerged that evening, remained submerged overnight, and on April 10 commenced its first of several planned deep dives. The submarine was accompanied by USS Skylark, with which it was in communication as it dove to its test depth in a series of steps. It never resurfaced. The morning’s exercises started normally, but around 9.00 AM Thresher reported a problem and an attempt to surface using emergency procedures. Another transmission, heavily garbled and nearly indecipherable, followed. Thresher, out of control, descended beyond its design limits and imploded due to the pressures of the deep. 129 men, members of the ship’s crew, observers, and civilian workers from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard passed in the accident.
Following the accident and subsequent investigations by the Navy, more advanced safety procedures and systems were developed and implemented on American submarines. Cold War pressures on shipyards and Naval facilities meant not all submarines could be rendered SUBSAFE, as the Navy called it, immediately. Budget pressures were another factor preventing all vessels’ conversion. In May, 1968, USS Scorpion was returning from an extended cruise in the Mediterranean and East Atlantic. Families and friends of crew members gathered at the pier in Norfolk where the submarine was due to arrive on May 27. The ship never arrived. After an investigation by the Navy and an extensive search, USS Scorpion was declared sunk in early June. The vessel had not yet been converted to SUBSAFE. It was later determined the submarine sank on May 22, five days before the crew’s loved ones gathered to welcome them home from the Cold War.
