![]() The Thresher was equipped with a large storage battery, which would not power the submarine for long. The loss of the diesel engine would make it difficult to restart the reactor, but all was not lost at that point. Per procedure, the reactor was shut down, and the auxiliary diesel engine aboard the submarine provided everyday power until it broke down. During the exercise, the Thresher put into San Juan, which did not have the port facilities to provide external power to the submarine. It is here where there was a bit of foreshadowing of things to come. After that test, she returned to New London, and prepared to go on another shakedown cruise to Puerto Rico with the USS Cavalla (SS 244) to conduct anti-submarine exercises. ĭuring Thresher’s short career, she was put through a battery of tests, including sound tests in the Bahamas to see how effective the silencing measures worked to suppress radiant sound vibrations from her machinery and reactor. After commissioning, she was thoroughly tested for close to a whole year, exceeding the expectations of her designers and engineers. After being outfitted, the Thresher made a preliminary dive to a safe 600 feet in July 1961, and then was commissioned in August 1961 and placed in command under Commander Dean L. The story of the Thresher begins at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, ME when her keel was laid down in 1958. Layout of USS Plunger (SSN 595) similar to USS Thresher (SSN 593). This class would be the first Modern Fast-Attack Submarine class, and the Thresher was the lead ship of this new class. The Thresher was roomer than a World War II submarine with the hull diameter at 31 feet and 8 inches opposed to the 16-17 feet diameter pressure hull. The submarine was shorter than her World War II counterparts at 278.5 feet. The Thresher-class could also deploy sea-mines from their torpedo tubes. ![]() Weapons included the conventional Mark 37 Torpedo (anti-shipping/anti-submarine), the nuclear tipped Mark 45 ASTOR (anti-submarine torpedo), and the new SUBROC (submarine launched rocket), a weapon launched from the torpedo tubes to the surface to take flight to its target. ![]() With the increased sensitivity to detecting enemy submarines, operating more quietly, and diving deeper, the new class of submarine was given a litany of weapons to use. The SONAR array was fitted into the bow of the submarine forcing the torpedo room to shift to amidships. The Thresher-class was equipped with a new passive SONAR AN/BQQ-2, which could hear sounds of submarines at great distances. submarine engagement depended on being able to hear and target your enemy before they could do the same to you. Thresher-class submarines could operate at depths around 1,300 feet whereas most World War II submarines operated at around 400 feet, and improved Korean War submarines could go as deep as 650 feet. ![]() The tear-shape, along with the improved hull plates made from HY-80 (can withstand 80,000 psi), allowed the Thresher-class to dive deeper than their World War II counterparts. This hull-form made the submarine sail more efficiently submerged than on the surface. The shape of the Thresher was a new evolution of a tear-shaped hull that was more hydrodynamic than those of World War II and Korea. The Thresher was built to be quieter than previous submarines by installing rubber washers between metal parts and fasteners to reduce the radiant noise of the submarine from metal on metal contact. The Thresher and her sisters were designed to dive deeper, run more silent, and detect that which cannot be seen. But when the Soviets began to field SSBs (Zulu V, Golf I, and Golf II), conventional submarines armed with a few nuclear ballistic missiles, at the end of the 1950s, the need for a hunter-killer was ever that important. The concept of the hunter-killer was conceived long before a functioning ballistic missile submarine (SSB or SSBN) was ever constructed in 1949. The USS Thresher was the lead ship of a new class of fast-attack submarine and was the culmination of twelve years of scientific and engineering research to develop a submarine hunter-killer to address the threat that Soviet submarines posed. Bow View of the Nuclear-Powered Attack Submarine USS Thresher (SSN-593), J( Local ID: 428-N-1057645, NAID 175539769) Introduction to the First Modern Submarine The Thresher was the first of two nuclear submarines lost during the Cold War, the other being the USS Scorpion (SSN 589) in 1968. This April 10th marks the 60th Anniversary of the loss of the USS Thresher (SSN 593). Patch, Reference Archivist at the National Archives in College Park, MD and Subject Matter Expert for Navy Records.
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