As will be discussed in detail by a forthcoming posting on the loss of the USS THRESHER 53-years ago, the Court of Inquiry (COI) then concluded the disaster was the direct result of a breach in a sea-connected pipe between two and five inches in diameter at a depth of 1300-feet where the pressure was 580 psi.

The COI further concluded the resulting flooding produced electrical shorts that caused the reactor to scram (shut down). The COI established that THRESHER had, at 0913R, acknowledged to her escort ship, the USS SKYLARK (ASR-20), via UQC (GERTRUDE) that she was “experiencing minor difficulties.” SOSUS data established the time of the scram was no later than 0909R.

A visit to the local Fire Station confirmed that the pressure at the 1.75 inch diameter nozzle of a 150-foot fire hose is 180 psi which delivers about 200 gallons a minute.

If you use a diameter for the postulated THRESHER breach of twice the fire hose nozzle - and triple the pressure, you obviously have a catastrophic flooding problem well in excess of a 1000 gallons a minute which means THRESHER would have been taking on an additional weight of at least 8000 pounds of water (130 cubic feet) a minute or 32,000 pounds (520 cubic feet) by the time of the “experiencing minor difficulties” UQC transmission. Note: these weight and volume numbers are very conservative estimates and could easily be twice as much.

The COI knew all this and still concluded there was a catastrophic leak despite THRESHER's use of the phrase “minor difficulty.” The posting of 10 April will discuss multiple, independent lines of evidence that confirm there was no flooding before collapse of the THRESHER pressure-hull at 09:18:24R at a depth of 2400-feet.