1. FEW EVENTS ARE SO LOCKED IN TIME AS THE LOSS OF USS 
THRESHER ON APRIL 10, 1963. ALTHOUGH THIRTY FIVE YEARS HAVE 
PASSED SINCE THAT FATEFUL DAY, OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS ARE 
JOINED WITH THOSE OF FAMILY MEMBERS LEFT BEHIND AS WE REMEMBER 
HER VALIANT CREW. THE VIGIL CONTINUES TODAY AS OUR SAILORS AND SUBMARINES GUARD THE SEAS AGAINST AGGRESSION AROUND THE WORLD. TAKE COMFORT THAT THEIR LOSS WAS NOT IN VAIN - OUR SUBMARINE FORCE IS STRONGER, SAFER AND MORE CAPABLE TODAY IN NO SMALL PART DUE TO THEIR DEDICATION AND SACRIFICE. 

2. FOR OUR SHIPMATES IN NEW HAMPSHIRE, I APPLAUD YOUR SUSTAINED 
EFFORT TO KEEP ALIVE THE MEMORY OF THRESHER THESE MANY YEARS. 

3. SAILORS REST YOUR OARS.

VADM MIES// 

BT 

RUN SILENT, RUN DEEP

Thirty-five years ago this morning, the nuclear submarine USS Thresher took a test dive in deep water off Cape Cod, suffered a catastrophic mechanical failure and was lost with all hands.

The Thresher was one of three American submarines lost during the Cold War. The USS Scorpion went down near the Azores in 1968 and the USS Cochino sank north of the Scandinavian peninsula in 1949.

Nearly 300 submariners gave their lives so that crucial and almost entirely secret work could be done. Underwater intelligence-gathering operations - many heavily classified to this day - began as early as May 1948, when U.S. patrols began along the Siberian coast to collect information on Soviet nuclear-weapons testing programs.

Perhaps the most productive of the spy mis-sions was Operation Ivy Bells, during whichspecially equipped U.S. submarines tappedinto vital Soviet communications cables fromaround 1970 until 1981, when Moscow learned of the undertaking from the American spy Ronald Pelton.

(An aside: The equipment and techniques utilized in the discovery of the Titanic were developed for Ivy Bells and related undertakings.)

Today, U.S. attack submarines are regularly called upon for intelligence-gathering missions - and have on several occasions launched cruise missiles at Mideast targets. Trident-missile equipped boats - the so- called "boomers" - form the backbone of America's nuclear deterrent.

Whether the submarine force is properly configured to meet the Navy's post-Cold War needs is a matter of growing controversy.

But that's a discussion for another time. For now, we ask only a moment of respectful remembrance for those Cold War submariners who died their silent deaths in service to their country.

Copyright (c) 1998, N.Y.P. Holdings, Inc. 

Question: Does anyone recall the day of the week? 

It was a Wednesday! Hard to remember because the news was not released until Thursday in the New Haven Register and Friday in the Boston and NY papers. 
To be real specific 9:17AM. At 11:04 attempt made by USS Skylark to notify COMSUBLANT but had radio problems. At 12:45 Subase finally acknowledged. COMSUBFLOT2 handed message 13:02. DepCOMSUBLANT Ramage stepped off plane at Groton at 18:30 and received the details. He immediately got a chopper to Newport and the DD943 and was enroute to scene at 20:30. COMSUBFLOT2 was on DL-1 at 1700 heading for scene.