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52 Years Ago Today 8211 at 091824R the USS THRESHER SSN593 Was Lost

By Bruce Rule - Apr 10, 2015

Two years ago today, the writer summarized the results of a half-century of periodic involvement with analysis of the loss of THRESHER by (1) sending to the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV N97) the 12-page letter archived under commentaries on this site as “Information and Security Issues Associated With the Loss of the USS THRESHER” which also is available at http://www.iusscaa.org/articles/brucerule/letter_to_the_deputy_cno.htm and by (2) co-authoring with Norman Polmar the NAVY TIMES article linked below, and also available at http://archive.navytimes.com/article/20130404/NEWS/304040021/50-years-later-look-what-really-sank-Thresher .

Polmar brought additional critical information on the loss of THRESHER into focus in the NAVY TIMES article with an excellent summary assessment.

The writer is satisfied these two documents provide - in the public domain - all the information that can be derived from analyses of the critically important acoustic detections of the loss of THRESHER by the Navy's Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) stations at SHELBURNE (NS), BERMUDA, ARGENTIA (NFLD), NANTUCKET, LEWES (DE) and ANTIGUA (West Indies).

The writer, having testified before the THRESHER Board of Inquiry in April 1963, concludes the Navy has no additional information that relates specifically to the sequence of events that occurred onboard THRESHER and which led directly to the loss that occurred with the nearly instantaneous collapse (0.1 seconds) of the entire pressure-hull at a depth of 2400-feet (1070 psi) without – repeat without - any prior flooding, and with an energy release equal to the explosion of 22,500 lbs of TNT at that depth. ((The low-frequency acoustic signal (bubble-pulse) produced by this collapse event could have been detected at ranges (distances) greater than the 24,900 statute mile equatorial circumference of the earth had there been an unobstructed deep-water transmission path.))

The archived letter provides detailed technical discussions that support these assessments.