Word: thresher
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...Thresher herself held a notable place in the history of the submarine service. Commissioned in August 1961, she was the first of a nuclear-powered class designed to run deeper (around 1,000 ft. down), faster (35 knots underwater), and more silently than any submarine ever built. Two other Thresher-type subs. Permit and Plunger, have since been launched, and 22 others are under construction. Thresher's teardrop-shaped hull had no flat surfaces; when venturing on her deck, crewmen wore special adhesive shoe soles. The hull was speckled with more than 1,000 tiny listening devices. She could...
Shortly after noon Tuesday, Thresher was 30 miles southeast of Portsmouth. With the rescue ship Skylark standing by, the submarine's klaxon blared, and she buried her nose in the Atlantic for her first series of test dives-all shallow. She performed perfectly, and at 9 p.m. Tuesday headed for deep water 220 miles off Cape Cod. Next morning, with Skylark bobbing above and maintaining constant contact with sonar and telephone, Thresher glided through a set of medium-depth dives. Her skipper, Lieut. Commander John Wesley Harvey, 35, decided that she was ready for the maximum test. None...
...Thresher was silent. Calmly at first, the Skylark tried to regain contact. Crewmen tried sonar, telephone and Morse code transmissions to raise Thresher. With growing fear, they began exploding small depth charges every ten minutes, hoping Commander Harvey would respond to those alarm signals. They kept up a drumfire of sonar and telephone messages-one every minute. But Thresher did not answer...
...radioed the submarine base at New London, Conn., reported that the submarine had been out of touch for an hour and 47 minutes. Even this created no desperate alarm. Perhaps Harvey, his communications out, was simply riding out heavy surface seas in the tranquil depths. But by midafternoon, with Thresher silent for six hours, Navy patrol planes began circling the area. At 3:35 a hot line buzzed in the Pentagon office of Admiral George Anderson, Chief of Naval Operations. He learned for the first time that Thresher had disappeared. Within half an hour President Kennedy and all key Pentagon...
...Vigil. By nightfall five destroyers, two submarines, a frigate and another submarine rescue ship were headed for the spot where Thresher went down. The night searchers found an oil slick. And finally Admiral Anderson came to perhaps the most painful decision of his career. The Navy must begin telling families of the men aboard Thresher that a tragedy may have occurred...