11/11/2023 0 Comments Trieste submarine gal of gasoline![]() The commissioning commanding officer was Commander Dean Axene. The submarine was built by the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, (PNS), launched in 1961 and commissioned in 1962. The promise of this new submarine, and the urgent need for its operational employment, were such that fourteen ships of its class were authorized in the years 1958 to 1961. She was armed with torpedoes and the developmental SUBROC weapon system. The 593 boat had the new BQQ-2 sonar, positioned on the nose for better listening. She had a deeper test depth than did SKIP JACK. THRESHER had a modified SKIPJACK hull form with a single propeller and rudder, powered by the S-5-W pressurized water reactor. THRESHER was designed to dive deeper, go faster and more quietly, and to carry a more formidable payload than any previous submarine, U.S. THRESHER was the lead ship in a new class of attack ASW submarines whose mission was to counter the growing threat of Soviet diesel and nuclear powered submarines. ![]() Deep submergence was a new idea demonstrated by the bathyscaph TRIESTE, which conquered the Challenger Deep in the Pacific, 35,800 feet, in 1960.3 (I volunteered for bathyscaph duty in 1962 and in 1963 was one of the two submariners who piloted her to search for THRESHER.) USS THRESHER CSSN 593) The Mccann Bell was the extent of submarine rescue capability. We were designing, building and training a nuclear powered submarine fleet.Īt the same time, we lived in the Davy Jones Locker era: ships and sailors lost at sea were forever confined to the deep, and the deep guards its secrets well. President Kennedy had successfully used the Navy to foil the Soviets in the Cuban Missile Crisis just the year before. They were aggressively becoming a Blue Water Navy with global ambitions. The Navy’s challenges and technology were very different in 1963. Yet, safety precepts can erode in forty years. Our submarine safety record is excellent. Add to this the reality of budget constraints and the loss of skilled work-men and leadership over time. They can be overlooked in the euphoria of new design, the promise of technology, and the press of operational commitments. Mistakes start early in the chain of events that lead to a tragedy. The narrative of the loss of THRESHER and the lessons learned, bought at so great a price, were examined in 1963 by the Naval Court of Inquiry’ and the Congressional Hearings of the Joint Committee on Atomic Energy.2 The challenge for submarine leaders is to study these documents and to reinterpret and apply them for each new generation of submarines and submariners. The search by the bathyscaph TRIESTE for the submarine is summarized here. By this point, another bathyscaphe, the Trieste II was almost complete and Trieste was decommissioned in 1966.In this fortieth anniversary year of the loss of USS THRESHER (SSN 593) it is incumbent on us to review the story of the loss of THRESHER, the search for the submarine, the search for the causes, and the legacy of that loss. In 1963 Trieste was transported to the east coast of the United States to look for the missing submarine USS Thresher. These four paintings depict some aspects of working on and operating Trieste during this time. ![]() In 1961 two artists Salvatore Indiviglia and Luis Llorente went to San Diego to document Trieste as it was undergoing repairs and improvements after the dive to the Challenger Deep. After completing its mission, Trieste returned to the United States. On 23 January 1960 the bathyscaphe dived to a depth of 35,814 feet and reached the ocean floor. Trieste went to the Marianas to explore the one the deepest spots in the Pacific Ocean - the Challenger Deep. Upon entering service in the Navy, some modification were made including a new crew sphere. Crew accessed the sphere from the top deck through a vertical shaft through the structure. The crew occupied the 7.09-foot pressure sphere, attached to the underside of the structure. It had water ballast tanks fore and aft of the main compartment, with releasable iron ballast in two conical hoppers along the bottom, located fore and aft of the crew sphere. The bulk of the structure were floats filled with 22,000 gallons of gasoline. ![]() In 1958 the US Navy purchased the Trieste for research purposes ![]() The Trieste was designed by Auguste Piccard and built by 2 Italian companies. The bathyscaphe launched in 1953 near the island of Capri. ![]()
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