The USS Thresher (named after the thresher shark) was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine and deputed in August 1961. It was the lead ship of a class of nuclear-powered assault submarines, "silent guardians" created to observe and destroy Soviet submarines. Information technology had a height speed of over 20 knots and a maximum operational depth greater than 400 feet, and it displaced 4,300 tons of h2o when submerged.

On the morning of April 10, 1963, Thresher departed from Portsmouth to perform deep-diving tests, accompanied past the submarine rescue send USS Skylark. Xv minutes after reaching its test depth, it communicated via underwater telephone that information technology was experiencing difficulties. Amid garbled transmissions, the Skylark crew reported hearing a sudden racket — "similar air rushing into an air tank" — and then, silence. Repeated efforts to reestablish contact failed, and a rescue ship began to recover debris. After a fifteen-ship search performance, on April 11 the Navy declared the Thresher lost at body of water. A Naval Court of Research later determined that the accident was likely caused by the failure of a common salt-water pipage system joint, which in turn led to flooding in the engine room.

The loss of Thresher was the genesis of the SUBSAFE Submarine Safe program, established in June 1963. Affirming the Navy'due south commitment to a civilisation of safe, the program requires annual training of personnel, not-negotiable certification requirements and internal and external audits. The program has been successful: no SUBSAFE-certified submarine has always been lost. As its inscription states, the commemorative monument honors "the 129 men lost aboard USS Thresher (SSN-593) and their SUBSAFE legacy."

The USS Thresher National Commemorative Monument is in Section 2, just off Roosevelt Drive.

  • See photos of the USS Thresher National Commemorative Monument Dedication Anniversary (2019)