APRIL 10

On this date in 1963, I was a senior in high school.  An incident occurred which I remember well.
It concerned the Thresher, our latest nuclear powered attack-submarine -  the fastest and quietest sub in the world.

Nuclear powered naval vessels had come on line in the 1950s.  Our first nuclear sub was the Nautilus. In 1958, it amazed the world by making a trip across and underneath the Arctic ice cap and the North Pole.

This day, the just-completed Thresher was going through sea testing off the coast near Cape Cod, Massachusetts.  When doing it's first deep dive, it suddenly lost contact with the surface vessel controlling the test.  No one is 100% sure what the problem was but the crew of 129 sailors and test personnel perished as the ship imploded below rated depth.    

It was a real shock to the nation.  President Kennedy, a sailor himself, spoke to the country and ordered flags to half staff and a period of mourning.

Thirty-seven years later, the Russians lost a nuclear powered sub of their own (the Kursk) along with it's crew of 118.  These are the only two nuclear subs ever lost at sea.

Our sub was named after the thresher shark.  It is recognizable by its long caudal fin.