Declassify the Thresher Data

摘要

It has now been 55 years since the USS Thresher (SSN-593) sank east of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, during a routine test dive-the first nuclear-submarine disaster and, in lives lost, the worst. Lessons were learned and improvements made-but the Navy has yet to declassify important documents on the loss of the world's most advanced submarine. A Naval Court of Inquiry investigated the submarine's loss and concluded that the probable cause had been major flooding from ruptured 2-5-inch piping in the engine room. However, as shown by the evidence discussed here, this was probably not the underlying cause. Substantiating this assertion is the Thresher's acoustic signature, recorded on low-frequency analysis and recording grams (LoFAR-Grams). These paper-based time-vs.-fre-quency plots are produced by Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) passive sonar hydrophones of Array Fox terminating at the Canadian Naval Station HMCS Shel-burne (Nova Scotia). The data reveal that the Thresher very likely had already sunk below her 1,300-foot test depth limit when she reported minor difficulties. The result was a hull collapse that could have been avoided with more testing and better planning.