Never knew the full story of this. On a personal note, the escorts ship USS Skylark (ASR-20) was of the same class as the USS Sunbird (ASR-15) that I would serve on nearly 20 years later. In the photo, the Skylark is on the left and the Sunbird on the right.


 

The nuclear submarine Thresher was said to be America’s best. Then tragedy struck.

Tom Wiley was sitting in his dorm room at Purdue University listening to his transistor radio when he heard about the missing submarine. The radio hadn’t been working lately, but his roommate got it on just as word came about the USS Thresher. Wiley’s big brother, John Joseph, “JJ,” was a 23-year-old officer on the submarine.