More Submarine History - Booklet from USS Thresher

As everyone who has studied Cold War submarine history knows, USS Thresher (SSN-593) was lost on 10 April, 1963. 129 men lost their lives in the worst post-war disaster to strike the submarine service.

AIMM has in its archives a partial "Welcome Aboard" booklet from USS Thresher, issued sometime in few months, or possibly just days, before Thresher's loss. It features the biography of LCDR John W. Harvey, Thresher's Commanding Officer, who had only assumed command on 18 January, 1963 and was lost when Thresher went down.

The booklet is only six pages, and includes a cutaway diagram showing the general layout of Thresher's decks as well as a short history of Thresher's World War Two namesake (SS-200) and the shark that the original Thresher was named for.

Some of the statements from the booklet:

USS Thresher (SSN-593) is the lead ship of the world's most advanced class of nuclear submarines.

She is one of the most effective anti-submarine weapons in the Navy arsenal.

She has the ability to operate deeper as well as more silently than her predecessors.

Her advanced sonar is the most comprehensive detection system ever devised for an underwater craft.

Clearly, Thresher's officers and crew were (rightly) proud of their boat.

AIMM honors Thresher's memory by making this booklet available in PDF format through our website. We would like to thank the donor who made this possible (the original booklet was loaned to AIMM and the donor wanted to remain anonymous).