Posted on 08/12/2019 6:25:00 AM PDT by robowombat
Retired Submarine Commander Sues Navy to Release USS Thresher Investigation
By: Ben Werner August 9, 2019 8:57 AM • Updated: August 11, 2019 7:40 PM
A retired nuclear submarine commander filed suit against the Navy to gain access to records classified for more than a half-century after the sinking of USS Thresher (SSN-593) – the Navy’s worst nuclear submarine disaster.
Capt. James Bryant, who served on three Thresher-class subs, including a tour as commanding officer of USS Guardfish (SSN-612), has in his retirement taken to investigating the cause of Thresher’s sinking.
“I’m trying to find out what happened because it’s good lessons learned,” Bryant told USNI News. “You need to have scholars look at this. What are we really protecting? I’m not doing this to embarrass the Navy.”
When Thresher sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean 56 years ago, 129 officers, sailors and shipbuilders died. Thresher was supposed to be the most advanced submarine, and its failure during the height of the Cold War was considered a tremendous disaster, Bryant said.
In the aftermath of Thresher, the Navy created its SubSafe program. Bryant says if the facts were released, the incident could serve as a valuable learning tool.
“A lot of things had to have gone wrong for that submarine to sink,” Bryant said.
A year ago, Bryant wrote in Proceedings why he thinks the Navy should declassify the Thresher investigation. On April 8, 2019, Bryant filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Navy asking for the release of Thresher investigation documents.
Displeased with the slow-pace of the Navy’s response, Bryant filed a lawsuit on July 5 alleging the “Navy has improperly withheld agency records from Plaintiff.”
In response, the Navy denies withholding any records under the Freedom of Information Act, according to an Aug. 8 court filing. A court date for the case has not been set.
Theories about why Thresher sank have circulated since it sent its last garbled report during a deep dive test on April 10, 1963. Some theories revolve any number of possible mechanical failures or design flaws. Others hold to more far-fetched Soviet Navy interference. The official reason involves a ruptured pipe causing flooding that shorted-out electrical panels, resulting in a loss of propulsion at test depth.
Bryant, who spent a significant part of his naval career serving aboard Thresher-class submarines, suspects a problem with Thresher’s main coolant pumps led to the sinking. However, without the Navy records requested in his Freedom of Information Act request, Bryant said there’s no way to determine if any of the theories are correct.
Given the age of the investigation and a 2012 memo from the Navy’s director of undersea warfare, Bryant says the bulk of the Thresher investigation should be releasable.
The Navy’s director of undersea warfare stated in the 2012 memo, “Approximately 75 percent of the records have been declassified and are available for public release through FOIA. The remaining records are classified and are subject to redaction through a mandatory declassification review process before being released.”
However, seven years after the memo, and 56 years since the sinking, Bryant says the Navy has released just 19 pages of more than 1,700 pages of testimony. Bryant is suing to get the Navy to release all declassified Thresher information.
“All they have to do is remove temperatures and pressures and flow rates,” Bryant told USNI News. “We’re not after reactor design, and I doubt very much the court of inquiry went too much into reactor design.”
Bryant also thinks there’s a great untold story of how the nuclear Navy survived the sinking. Adm. Hyman Rickover, during his testimony, successfully made a case to continue building nuclear submarines amid advocacy to back away from the new technology involved in the disaster.
“Naval Reactors has a great story to tell here because Rickover beats these people, he saved a very important program,” Bryant said. “The diesel boat guys wanted to go back to diesel boats, and the Cold War would have had a different history.”
my dad wrote a song about the thresher... wish i could find it.
Was this nuclear powered or nuclear armed? Just curious about the usual dis ingenuous scare mongering use of the terms nuclear submarine.
My Dad was the disposal officer at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and was suppose to take a ride on the Thresher that day but a surprise inspection kept him home...
One moment you're the cat, next minute you're the mouse.
“The Terrible Hours” is about USS Squalus, a diesel boat. Thresher was nuclear powered and sank decades later.
My info is from the IIRC The History Channel that happened to be on last week.
My understanding of what happened in brief was they were attempting an Emergency Blow and the Valving for the air froze over blocking the air from getting to the Ballast Tanks to displace the water in the Tanks. Then for whatever reason they had no Propulsion and sank to Crush Depth and imploded.
There were more problems that added up to the Emergency Blow I don’t remember exactly.
My Condolences to Families of All lost in the Thresher incident.
I think that is the theory behind the sinking of the scorpion.
SIMULANT CAPTAIN: We have made some improvements to your craft. Now at least you may prove to be of some small amusement.
SIMULANT LIEUTENANT: You have two Earth minutes before we attack. RIMMER: Let's get out of here.
CAT: Wait, I know this game. It's called cat and mouse, and there's only one way to win; don't be the mouse.
LISTER: What are you saying?
CAT: I'm saying, the mouse never wins. Not unless you believe those lying cartoons. We don't run, we strike. It's the last thing they'll be expecting.
RIMMER: No, the last thing they'll be expecting is for us to turn into ice skating mongooses and to dance the Bolero. And your plan makes about as much sense.
LISTER: I say go with it.
KRYTEN: Agreed.
CAT: You're going to go with one of my plans? Are you nuts? What happens if we all get killed? I'll never hear the last of it!
If I recall correctly, “Blind Man’s Bluff” talks about the loss of USS Scorpion but not about the loss of the USS Thresher. I do not plan on commenting on the accuracy (if any) or flaws (if any) of “Blind Man’s Bluff” and its version of this story. The first rule of the Silent Service is you do not talk about the loss of Scorpion. The second rule of the Silent Service is you do not talk about the loss of Scorpion.
It was a lesson learned that the Navy took to heart and which generated the SUBSAFE program. Since the Threasher not a single new U.S. boat built or existing sub certified under SUBSAFE has been lost.
You may be thinking of the USS Scorpion...
A basic design for Ballast Tanks for those that may not be familiar with it.
I read that it was Ice blocking some vents or keeping vents open.
A shipmate of mine’s father died on that boat. Sad event.
His submarine spent three days hailing, via various means, to no avail.
That’s what I saw too. Ice was the culprit. Who really knows however.
The story I heard is a little different from yours. A valve or pipe ruptured and when they did the emergency blow they could not clear the ballast tanks quick enough, for what ever reason
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