[COPIED FROM GOOGLE.COM] http://thesaltysailor.com/april.htm USS Thresher SSN-593 was built in Kittery Maine at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. (The shipyard is located on the border of New Hampshire and Maine.) She was the first of a new class, designed for optimum performance of her sonar and weapons systems. A new type of high strength steel (HY-80) was used in her construction. Thresher was capable of diving deeper and running more silently than any other submarine of her time. Her keel was laid on May 28, 1958 and she was launched on July 9, 1960. After successfully completing builder’s and acceptance trials, Thresher was commissioned as a US Naval ship on August 3, 1961. Thresher now began a series of trials and tests that are familiar to naval sailors the world over. The first evolution consisted of a shakedown cruise. This cruise is intended to find all of the small faults and irregularities that did not show up during initial testing. It is also used to familiarize the crew with the ship's handling characteristics during cruising and diving operations and to hone them into a finely tuned team. All of the submarine's systems are tested operationally during an extended cruise. Problems are found and corrected and suggestions made for improved performance. To subscribe from USS-THRESHER-SSN593-D, send a message to USS-THRESHER-SSN593-D-request@rootsweb.com or To subscribe from USS-THRESHER-SSN593-L, send a message to USS-THRESHER-SSN593-L-request@rootsweb.com that contains in the body of the message the command subscribe and no other text. No subject line is necessary, but if your software requires one, just use subscribe in the subject, too.