I believe that God sends the right people into our lives in His time. While they would seem to fall under the “no major changes for a year” proviso, I’d like to offer a thought – One of the thorniest issues in widowhood is new relationships. “The best way to become a good Navy wife is to learn how to be a widow.” Click to Tweet He got us twenty-something, mostly newlywed, women into a room and lectured us about submarine life. The Thresher CACO (Casualty Assistance Calls Officer)–the officer who visited all the newly widowed Navy wives–never got over the experience and he spoke to my husband’s class and their wives. A story for another time) The 1963 Thresher accident also touched me during my husband’s tour at basic submarine school in Groton, Connecticut, many years later. (Only one other US submarine has been lost: The USS Scorpion. ![]() My husband joined the fleet 15 years later, and spoke often about “sub-safe” requirements. Many refinements and corrections in safety were made on the nuclear boats as a result of the accident. It was the first submarine the US Navy lost and sent shock ways through the fleet. The people on the surface, according to stories, heard the boat breaking up. They spoke of emergency “blowing” the boat (which means emptying all the ballast tanks and flying up out of the water: see the movie The Hunt for Red October.), followed by one more garbled message. They took her down slowly, ensuring no problems, but when she got to “test depth,” (Whatever that is, my in-house submariner only says, “submarines can go lower than 400 feet.”), problems arose. Shipyard experts rode her and crew members constantly communicated with the crew. She went out on her sea trials, accompanied by a monitoring ships. The Thresher was going through overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. ![]() That accident, which occurred during my childhood, changed my life. USS Thresher (SSN-593) (Wikimedia Commons) The USS Thresher (SSN-593), a fast attack nuclear submarine, sank for good on April 10, 1963.
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