Portal
Home
Calendar
Gallery
FAQ
Search
Register
Log inUSS Thresher service helps families heal, honor those on sub
USS Thresher service helps families heal, honor those on sub
by Outspoken on Sun Apr 13, 2008 6:43 am
USS Thresher service helps families heal, honor those on sub
The 1963 accident at sea took 129 lives and had a great effect on the Navy and the nation as a whole.
By ANNE GLEASON
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
KITTERY — Lori Arsenault was 8 years old when the USS Thresher sank, taking her father and 128 other crew members and civilians with it.
Arsenault, who now lives in Gorham, said she and her siblings were watching television when the Navy called their house, repeatedly trying to reach their mother. The days that followed involved a lot of uncertainty, until the tragedy was confirmed, she said.
Today, Arsenault maintains a Web site dedicated to the USS Thresher and its crew. She remembers her father, Tilmon J. Arsenault, outside his service.
"When I think about my dad, I don't think about the Navy," she said. With him, "it was always about family."
On Saturday, Arsenault was among nearly 180 relatives of those who perished and former crew members attending a memorial service for the 45th anniversary of the USS Thresher's demise. The sinking, which killed all 129 people on board, occurred on April 10, 1963.
The Thresher was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and was the first in a new class of submarines. It sank while conducting sea trials off the coast of Cape Cod.
The Navy concluded that a leak had developed in the engine room, letting in water that likely short-circuited electrical equipment on the submarine. It then wasn't able to surface.
The accident shocked the Navy, but also the nation as a whole, said Rear Adm. Kevin McCoy, chief engineer with the Naval Systems Engineering Directorate and a former commander at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
The country still considers the loss of the USS Thresher to be among "America's most dreadful tragedies," said McCoy, speaking at the service.
The Navy created new safety procedures after the accident, including the SUBSAFE program, to correct design and construction problems and ensure that "crew members would not die in vain," he said.
John Cook of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was a crew member aboard the Thresher until January 1963, three months before the accident. He left to attend Naval Nuclear Power School.
Cook remembers being told during school that "the Thresher's overdue." At first, he wasn't overly concerned for his former crewmates.
"It's not that unusual if we miss our estimated time of arrival," said Cook, who read names of crew members during a tolling of the bells at the service Saturday.
"When it was still missing after a few days, I knew it wouldn't be that far off its (arrival) time."
Cook said he knew about 100 of the people on board.
"I think about what happened a lot," he said. "All the people lost were great friends, close friends. When you're young, you can't believe stuff like that happens."
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=181248&ac=PHnws
File photo
The 1963 accident at sea took 129 lives and had a great effect on the Navy and the nation as a whole.
By ANNE GLEASON
Staff Writer Portland Press Herald
KITTERY — Lori Arsenault was 8 years old when the USS Thresher sank, taking her father and 128 other crew members and civilians with it.
Arsenault, who now lives in Gorham, said she and her siblings were watching television when the Navy called their house, repeatedly trying to reach their mother. The days that followed involved a lot of uncertainty, until the tragedy was confirmed, she said.
Today, Arsenault maintains a Web site dedicated to the USS Thresher and its crew. She remembers her father, Tilmon J. Arsenault, outside his service.
"When I think about my dad, I don't think about the Navy," she said. With him, "it was always about family."
On Saturday, Arsenault was among nearly 180 relatives of those who perished and former crew members attending a memorial service for the 45th anniversary of the USS Thresher's demise. The sinking, which killed all 129 people on board, occurred on April 10, 1963.
The Thresher was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and was the first in a new class of submarines. It sank while conducting sea trials off the coast of Cape Cod.
The Navy concluded that a leak had developed in the engine room, letting in water that likely short-circuited electrical equipment on the submarine. It then wasn't able to surface.
The accident shocked the Navy, but also the nation as a whole, said Rear Adm. Kevin McCoy, chief engineer with the Naval Systems Engineering Directorate and a former commander at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
The country still considers the loss of the USS Thresher to be among "America's most dreadful tragedies," said McCoy, speaking at the service.
The Navy created new safety procedures after the accident, including the SUBSAFE program, to correct design and construction problems and ensure that "crew members would not die in vain," he said.
John Cook of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., was a crew member aboard the Thresher until January 1963, three months before the accident. He left to attend Naval Nuclear Power School.
Cook remembers being told during school that "the Thresher's overdue." At first, he wasn't overly concerned for his former crewmates.
"It's not that unusual if we miss our estimated time of arrival," said Cook, who read names of crew members during a tolling of the bells at the service Saturday.
"When it was still missing after a few days, I knew it wouldn't be that far off its (arrival) time."
Cook said he knew about 100 of the people on board.
"I think about what happened a lot," he said. "All the people lost were great friends, close friends. When you're young, you can't believe stuff like that happens."
http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=181248&ac=PHnws
File photo
"Music is a moral law. It gives soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination, and charm and gaiety to life and to everything."
Plato (427-347 BC)
Plato (427-347 BC)
