General Discussions
This is the place to discuss general issues related to the U-boat war or the war at sea in WWII.
Re: For Harry: USS Thresher
Posted by:
Jack
()
Date: January 19, 2002 12:57PM
<HTML>Thanks, Harry.
I went to the US naval history site, thanks for the tip.
I believe today's deep diving capability and forensic technologies could do a lot to pin down publically and more precisely what may have happened.
However, I believe the US Navy Thresher COI uncovered so many slipshod practices in all phases of design, construction, and operational procedures that they revamped the sub program from end to end. After all, the Thresher was a prototype, and after its accident, no similar accident occurred. That class was made safer (SUBSAFE).
I'd really like to read the COI record; has it been declassified? I suspicion that the Thresher had built in latent defects (weak elec cabinets, wiring not resistent to salt water), combined with a possible defect test procedure at Test Depth (was the sub held down primarily by dynamic forces at test depth?), with an initiating event likely to be a fault in piping. These add together to suggest a small leak spraying on a cabinet, leading to loss of electrical control, followed by loss of diving planes control or propulsion, followed by loss of depth control due to flooding or loss of power. If positive bounancy had been passively maintained, the Thresher could have ascended towards the surface had loss of propulsion or diving plane control occurred.
Just a few years later, we lost 3 astronaunts on the pad when a fire in elec insulation occured in a cabin filled with an oxygen environment. They had no way of timely egress. US govt testing policy in the 60s seems to have been based upon the expectation of a favorable or nominal test outcome, rather than maintaining safety and control in the event of worst case test outcome.
Maybe we could file a Freedom of Info request and read the Thresher Court of Inquiry conclusions considered Top Secret in the 60s but no longer so. I sure would like to know what they really concluded!
Jack</HTML>
I went to the US naval history site, thanks for the tip.
I believe today's deep diving capability and forensic technologies could do a lot to pin down publically and more precisely what may have happened.
However, I believe the US Navy Thresher COI uncovered so many slipshod practices in all phases of design, construction, and operational procedures that they revamped the sub program from end to end. After all, the Thresher was a prototype, and after its accident, no similar accident occurred. That class was made safer (SUBSAFE).
I'd really like to read the COI record; has it been declassified? I suspicion that the Thresher had built in latent defects (weak elec cabinets, wiring not resistent to salt water), combined with a possible defect test procedure at Test Depth (was the sub held down primarily by dynamic forces at test depth?), with an initiating event likely to be a fault in piping. These add together to suggest a small leak spraying on a cabinet, leading to loss of electrical control, followed by loss of diving planes control or propulsion, followed by loss of depth control due to flooding or loss of power. If positive bounancy had been passively maintained, the Thresher could have ascended towards the surface had loss of propulsion or diving plane control occurred.
Just a few years later, we lost 3 astronaunts on the pad when a fire in elec insulation occured in a cabin filled with an oxygen environment. They had no way of timely egress. US govt testing policy in the 60s seems to have been based upon the expectation of a favorable or nominal test outcome, rather than maintaining safety and control in the event of worst case test outcome.
Maybe we could file a Freedom of Info request and read the Thresher Court of Inquiry conclusions considered Top Secret in the 60s but no longer so. I sure would like to know what they really concluded!
Jack</HTML>
| Subject | Written By | Posted |
|---|---|---|
For Harry: USS Thresher
|
Jack | 01/17/2002 05:35PM |
|
Re: For Harry: USS Thresher
|
Harry | 01/18/2002 10:58PM |
|
Jack I made mistake
|
Harry | 01/18/2002 11:04PM |
|
Re: For Harry: USS Thresher
|
Jack | 01/19/2002 12:57PM |
|
Re: For Jack: USS Thresher
|
Harry | 01/19/2002 04:20PM |