I seem to recall that Thresher was ultimately doomed by ice on the air manifold in the ballast tank which prevented an emergency blow.
The problem that caused the cascade effect was a leaky welded joint and powerplant shut down.
The outcome was SUBSAFE.
Correct. Iced up air filters to the main ballest tanks.
What ultimately doomed the Thresher was lack of propulsion....
If the screw was turning, even at negative buoyancy, she could have driven to the surface.
Subsafe came from the Thresher, but also the Quality Assurance program. Many changes were brought about to improve safety and reliability on boats....the loss of the Thresher was very tragic, but it ultimately saved lives.
You are correct...I didn’t mean to imply the Thresher was lost due to a power plant failure or faulty welds...Should have been more clear...
Just saying a power plant failure from such a weld failing could doom a submarine and crew...The way my submariner buddies explain it to me a sub more or less “flies” thru the water and is dependent for thrust to move up and down (adjusting buoyancy is only part of it”...Loss of propulsion in a deep dive could be catastrophic, I’ve been told...
That’s all I was getting at, and trying to make a point people working on our subs have an unusually high degree of personal responsibility to the crews who will sail in them...Lives depend on doing it right...