WASHINGTON — A historic submarine hailing from New England has been commemorated in Arlington National Cemetery.
The new memorial for the USS Thresher (SSN-593) serves as to honor the 129 people killed when it sank.
On April 10, 1963, it was among the most technologically advanced nuclear-powered submarines in the world.
It had been built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. It was commissioned in August 1961 to be part of a fleet of attack submarines dubbed the 'silent guardians.'
The Thresher left Portsmouth on April 10, 1963, to perform deep-diving tests. No sooner had it reached its test depth when the ship accompanying the submarine got garbled transmissions about difficulties. The crew of the ship reported hearing a sudden noise over the telephone "like air rushing into an air tank" and then silence.
On April 11, the Navy declared the Thresher lost at sea. Naval reports officially stated the crash was likely caused by a failure of a salt-water piping system joint, which flooded the engine room.
Of the 129 people aboard, 16 were officers, 96 were enlisted sailors and 17 were civilian technicians. All of them died.
After the crash, the Navy began the SUBSAFE Submarine Safety program. The new program was launched in June of that year and requires annual training of personnel, certification requirements and audits to keep submarine's running as safely as possible. According to the program, no SUBSAFE-certified submarine has ever been lost.
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