Evening star., 1963-05-12

ciful, end. At all events, it was
over in less time than 1t would
take a man to smoke a Gig
arctic.
The vessel at the surface, :,
USS Skylark, is a pathetic CEN
trail figure in the Thresher
tragedy. Officially q rescue
salvage ship, assigned to es-
cort Thresher and act as her
communications link with
shore, Skylark was Ill equipped
to perform any Of these func-
tions in the waters where
Thresher was operating that
last day.
Divers Helpless
OF Skylark, the Navy subse-
quently said:
"(She) carried a large COM
plement Of highly trained deep
sea divers a great deal of
mooring equipment used in po-
sitioning herself over sunken
and disabled submarines &.
(a) submarine rescue chamber
commonly known as the bell
numerous high pressure
air compressors and air banks
applying air to salvage hoses
which divers connect up to the
bottomed submarines flooded
tanks and compartments for
the purpose Of blowing the dis
abled undersea boat to the sur
face"
But deep-sea divers are
helpless in more than a few
hundred feet of water. AS far
as mooring equipment is con-
cerned, Skylark's hapless skip
per subsequently testified that
he lacked enough line aboard
even to sink an anchor in the
bottom at that point. The bell
and all the other gadgetry are
useless below about $50 feet
and Thresher on her final day
was in water 10 times that deep.
To make matters worse, Sky
lark's communications link
with Thresher was by voice.
modulated sonar through hy-
drophones attached to her hull.
1t may have been because of
this crude receiving equip
ment that Thresher's last mes
sage was garbled when heard
aboard Skylark.
Messages Not Recorded
In any case, whatever was
actually said, garbled or not
(as opposed to what people re-
collect as being said, has been
lost forever. A $45 million sub
marine was undergoing crucial
tests with 129 men aboard =
and there was no tape-recorder
on Skylark to preserve mes
sages from the ship below.
Finally, Skylark's tie with
the shore. in a day of single
sideband and other elegant ra-
dio equipments. was "CW," old
fashioned dot-and-dash not
greatly different from what
Titanic's radio operator used
to call for help 81 years earlier.
When Skylark's skipper finally
decided to send a message. 1t
took his radio operator nearly
two hours TO pass $50 word
groups.
All in all, Skylark was about
as well equipped for her job as
a man stalking tigers with q
butterfly net.
In the circumstances, the
most glaring lack was probably
the tape recorder. Tapes pre-
served in airport control tow
ers have helped solve the my
stery Of numerous airline
crashes. After the disaster,
Navy officials now concede
with hindsight" that a re-
corder would have been valu-
able. and say such equipment
undoubtedly will be used on
future checkout cruises.
Might Have Explained Sounds
A tape could not have saved
Thresher, any more than Sky
lark's diving bell could have
rescued her crew. But the
sounds on 1t might have been
analyzed and ungarbled: the
tape might have revealed
whether T'hresher said "ap-
preaching test depth" or Tex
ceeding test depth" or indeed
anything about test depth" at
all.
II might have elucidated the
strange phrase recalled by
three witnesses as positive
angle" position angle" or
position up angle" none OF
which makes any sense at all
10 submariners. Finally, II
might have revealed the nature
of background noises which
one Skylark witness said
sounded like a ship breaking
UP. and two others likened TO