The origins of Thresher11:
It was year 1958. Nuclear Powered Attack Submarines were being built in order to defend the United States and its off-shore interests. The USS Thresher11(Unnamed till 1963) was built in order to lead the fleet of aquatic vessels. With high hopes, the new vessel was ready to silently surf the oceans. It was a sunny day on 10 April 1963. The powerful submarine left its port in order to test its new, state of the art sonar equipment. Traveling at high speeds it dived down into the deep waters of the North Pacific roughly 220 miles off shore from Las Angeles. Everything was preforming perfectly. This state of the art sonar has never been used by any ship before though. Unsure of the outcome, the brave sailors on board prepped the sub for action. After communication was established between the base in Hawaii and the Submarine, the captain decided it was time to turn on the sonar. Excitedly, the captain flipped the power switch to the sonar.
Beww.. Beww.. Beww..
Everything was working flawlessly. The captain reported back to Hawaii, that all was well. Now that it was working, it was time to do some tests. Traveling at full speed, the sub quickly swept the ocean for any signs of objects in the dark abyss ahead. The military set up multiple stationary objects at various depths throughout the ocean in the area of the testing. Listening carefully to the return echo, the captain began charting the locations of the objects. Cross referencing the sound of the bleeps, notes were taken to estimate the size of the objects. Using the sonars map, the crew was able to distinguish where each object was. Making great progress in this new technology, the captain decided to check in with the base at Hawaii. After making contact with the base and exchanging a few locations, one of the crew members noticed something new on the radar. A faint bleep was audible. Roughly 650 miles ahead of the submarine, a new object was picked up. The captain asked the operator at base if a moving object should be appearing outside the testing area. After confirming that no such object should be out there, the captain requested the location of the unknown object.
"450 miles and closing in fast," exclaimed the crewman. Unsure of what this possible threat was, the captain made the order to ready the battle stations.
"275 miles and closing, Sir!" As the object got closer, the crewman realized that there were actually 11 unidentified incoming objects. 11 different sonar bleeps were bouncing back, all very close to one another. The communications officer quickly jumped on the radio, broadcasting a message asking if there were any submarines in the area.
"25 miles!" shouted the sonar operator. In a matter of minutes the objects would reach the submarine. With no return message, the captain had to make a decision. Wait and see what happens, or fire the torpedoes.
"10 miles out!" stuttered the nervous sonar operator. Clearly, whatever this fleet of objects was, they were headed straight for the submarine. "Ready the torpedoes." At 5 miles out, the captain gave the order. All four torpedo bays fired at once. The sonar operator followed the progress of the torpedoes as the neared their targets. At 2.5 miles, the operator sat in silence. "Miss on all four," muttered the operator. The captain quickly dialed the base in Hawaii and put out a distress signal. With a great thud, the entire submarine lurched to one side. Everyone was silent. The only thing that could be heard was the sound of the sonar. Another thud. The sub violently pushed to the other side. With a third blow, all the lights in the vessel went out. A sailor screamed from the aft of the ship that there was a leak. With a great crash and the screeching of twisting metal, water begin to rush into the length of the ship. Within 5 minutes the entire ship was filled.
A team of officers got together and issued an official report. The submarine was declared lost at sea. Cause of loss: faulty equipment. The case was quickly closed and not many people spoke of it again. Only those on the military base in Hawaii know what really happened. As the ship was in it's final minutes the communications operator could hear everything that was happening on board until the power was lost. Between the pounding and twisting metal, he could make out the scream of a sailor in the aft of the submarine. "We are taking on water! What is happening? Are those teeth?!" After this, the line went down. After a little research, the operator discovered the answer. A Shark, thought to be extinct since the 1700's had a huge hatred of high pitched noises. This species was known to attack and maim any animal or thing that would spread noise throughout it's territory. Unfortunately for the submarine, this shark, known as the Thresher Shark, claimed this section of ocean for its group. All 11 sharks brutally attacked and destroyed the sub on that fateful day in April. As a tribute the crew who lost their lives, the USS Thresher11 was named postmortem.
