Honoring the Heroic Crew of USS Thresher (SSN 593)

Cleveland, OH April 10, 2023.  On this 60th anniversary of the loss of USS Thresher (SSN 593), Bartlett Maritime Corporation takes a moment to honor the heroes lost in this tragedy; the heroes who sailed in harms’ way and who are most responsible for the fundamental safety we assume in today’s submarine operations.  In every way possible, every submariner who has sailed US Navy submarines since April 10, 1963 owes a measure of their safety – of their lives – to the heroes who perished that fateful day.

On January 17, 1955, history changed as USS Nautilus (SSN 571), the world’s first nuclear powered vessel of any type, got underway on nuclear power.  Just a little more than 6.5 years later, on August 3, 1961, USS Thresher (SSN 593) was commissioned.  Thresher was the 18th nuclear powered US Navy submarine to be commissioned; the 21st US Navy nuclear powered ship overall – including USS Enterprise (CVAN 65), USS Long Beach (CGN 9) and USS Bainbridge (DLGN 25).  Just 615 days later, on April 10, 1963 – 60 years ago today – Thresher and her 129 heroic crew members were lost while engaged in deep dive recertification during sea trials following a shipyard availability.  Included among this crew were an officer from Commander, Submarine Force, US Atlantic Fleet, 3 officers from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and a total of 17 civilians from Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the Naval Ordinance Laboratory, and both Raytheon and Sperry Corporations.  At that point the US Navy had taken delivery of 30 nuclear powered submarines and 3 nuclear powered surface ships, with many more under construction.  These are the basic facts, but they do not come close to telling the whole story of Thresher’s heroic service.

Starting with unresolved issues following the end of World War 2, the first Cold War was steadily growing in intensity in the 1940’s and 1950’s in a period that was, in fact, a torrid technology competition between East and West.   Following the 1945 American nuclear weapons breakthrough, America, at Bell Labs in New Jersey on December 23, 1947, demonstrated the first solid-state semiconductor transistor device.  As early as 2 years later, concepts were being debated and developed in multiple nations in the West to make a practical integrated circuit using these magical devices.  The West’s technology lead was then challenged in 1949 by the Soviet Union, as they detonated their first nuclear weapon, and the Soviet Union sought to regain a technological advantage. 

With the Korean cease fire, on June 27, 1953, it appeared on the surface that the first Cold War had entered a “quiet period” for the balance of the Eisenhower years.  This apparent calm, though, only masked an intensified and ever more desperate, urgent race to achieve sustainable technological superiority in the face of nuclear weapons now being available to both the East and West.

On the heels of Nautilus going to sea in 1955, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957, igniting the space race and sending a chill down every American’s spine.  The Soviets were also very busy with their own nuclear powered ship developments.  On June 4, 1958, they delivered their first nuclear powered ship, K-3 (later renamed Leninsky Konsomol).  K-3 was the first of 14 so-called “November” Class Soviet submarines.

Countering, the US Navy sent Nautilus on an unprecedented mission to explore the Arctic, transiting from the Pacific to the Atlantic submerged across the top of the world.  Nautilus sailed under the North Pole on August 3, 1958 – two short months after K-3 was delivered to the Soviet Navy – and entered New York harbor to a heroic welcome 3 weeks later, on August 25th. USS Skate (SSN 578), the lead ship of America’s first multi-ship nuclear submarine class, would later surface through the ice at the North Pole on March 17, 1959.

 A few weeks after Nautilus transited beneath the North Pole, on September 12, 1958, America, at Texas Instruments, demonstrated the first practical integrated electronic circuit.  This is the development which powers the world’s technology today and allows most people in the world to now carry millions of transistors in their pockets in their cell phones.  This development, while not directly related to the first Cold War’s military technology development race, is emblematic of how the entire Western economy was rapidly evolving and developing – providing support to the urgent, parallel military technology development race.

America was also driving a rapid series of nuclear submarine developments, with the first 9 American nuclear powered attack submarines being parts of 6 distinctly different first-generation submarine classes – each featuring multiple enhancements and improvements.  In parallel, the US Navy was experimenting with radical new submarine hull forms and control surface strategies with unarmed diesel-electric research submarine USS Albacore (AGSS 569).

The US Navy was also working to take the next leap forward with the rapid creation and deployment of the submarine-launched Polaris strategic ballistic missile system.  USS George Washington (SSBN 598), the lead Polaris ship, was built on an accelerated basis by taking a Skipjack class attack submarine already under construction and inserting a missile compartment – enabling delivery and commissioning of this ship on December 30, 1959.

As the calendar rolled into 1960, George Washington went on the world’s first strategic deterrent patrol in November and 7 different shipyards in the United States were engaged 24/7/365 in building new nuclear powered US Navy ships.  Urgency was assumed; Polaris was delivered a full 3 years ahead of schedule in the face of the growing Soviet threat. 

Not to be left behind, the Soviet Union was also very busy.  Their first strategic ballistic missile submarine, K-19, the first so-called “Hotel” Class Soviet Submarine, was commissioned on April 30, 1961.  Their K-3 submarine also became the first Soviet vessel to surface at the North Pole, when it accomplished this feat on June 17, 1962.

Lessons were being learned at a furious pace in the US Navy; design improvements were yielding greatly enhanced performance.  The Space Race was also developing at full speed, with President Kennedy later announcing his Moon landing objective during the 1960’s in a speech on September 20, 1963. Nuclear war was on everyone’s mind – Dr. Strangelove, indeed.  Young school children practiced “duck and cover” drills in school, learning to hide under their desks in the event of a nuclear attack.  Families built fallout shelters in their backyards.  These were times of very high tension in the world.

Thresher was the product of these urgent, challenging times, when there was a universally understood challenge of all past technological norms and acceptance of the inherent risk of such a rapid development pace.  Thresher was, indeed, the real deal – with all of the new capabilities and features which had been debuted and individually proven as singular improvements on the many test units of the first generation.  Importantly, as well, Thresher featured a test depth of almost twice any previous American submarine.  She was truly the “complete package” – the Apex Predator of her day. 

So much of what Thresher debuted remains classified, as she truly was the fundamental model from which today’s most capable and modern ships – Virginia Class attack submarines and Columbia Class strategic missile submarines – were developed.  Like a wild animal, though, Thresher Class ships were very “rough around the edges” with very little margin for error.  Still, the other ships of the 13 ship Thresher Class, each with their own heroic crew, served on the front lines for a combined 318 ship-years of service as highly capable ships until USS Gato (SSN 615), the final Thresher Class ship to both be commissioned and decommissioned, became a victim of the 1990’s “Peace Dividend” upon her decommissioning on April 26, 1996.  That is correct – Thresher Class not only set the standard for all American submarines which have followed, but served on the front lines of America’s defense for almost 5 years after the dissolution of the Soviet Union itself.  Truly mighty warships which were instrumental to victory, truly first Cold War legends.

To this day there is a special bond among Thresher Class veterans, who consider themselves to eternally be “594 Tough” – noting that while the ship Class was “officially” renamed “Permit Class” after USS Permit (SSN 594) following the loss of Thresher, it always remained “Thresher Class” to her veterans.

On the Bartlett Maritime Corporation Team, three of us sailed ships of the Thresher class.  Two of us sailed her predecessors of the first-generation Skate Class.  Our General Counsel Stuart Dye served on the Secretary of the Navy’s Deep Submergence System Review Group following the loss of Thresher.  Many of us have worked in submarine shipyards, designing, building, and maintaining nuclear powered submarines.  To say that we all feel the loss of Thresher in a very personal way is an extreme understatement.

We also have older family, friends and associates who were in New England on that fateful day in 1963 who also remember the big question – which submarine was it?  You see, USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN 617) was also on sea trials off New England that day – builder’s trials out of Electric Boat – and the initial news reports were of an unspecified submarine “on sea trials off New England” having been lost at sea.

CAPT David McCall, USN(Ret), Bartlett Maritime Corporation President and Chief Operating Officer and a Skate Class veteran, summed up a retrospective view of Thresher’s loss succinctly in stating, “We didn't know what we didn't know.  During the early and rapid days of nuclear submarine development, we incorporated all the lessons learned to become the Submarine Force we are today.” 

Rear Admiral Robert Frick, USN(Ret), Bartlett Maritime Corporation Vice President and a Thresher Class veteran, noted that, “Despite the design’s many quirks, we persevered on Thresher Class, and we did the job.”

Vice Admiral William Merz, USN(Ret), a Member of the Bartlett Maritime Corporation Senior Advisory Board and the Navy’s last serving Thresher Class veteran when he retired in 2022, noted “We are a learning organization.  The loss of Thresher taught us indelible lessons that continue to inform our pursuit and sustainment of excellence.”

Finally, Bartlett Maritime Corporation Founder and Chief Executive Officer and Thresher Class veteran CAPT Edward L. Bartlett, Jr. noted, “We were in a race for the future of humanity; we learned the most difficult of lessons at the most horrific of prices.”

It is easy to assume submarine safety today.  In this century we have experienced two debilitating submarine accidents which, absent SUBSAFE and the other lessons learned and incorporated in our designs today from the tragic loss of Thresher, would likely have had far worse outcomes.  Never forget those who paid the ultimate price for this safety.

Bartlett Maritime Corporation is committed to the continuing success of the US Navy Submarine Force.  May we never forget and may the heroes who sailed Thresher that fateful day 60 years ago rest in peace and enjoy the Grace of God.