KITTERY, Maine — The Pentagon formally approved a monument Friday for Arlington National Cemetery to honor the U.S.S. Thresher, a submarine that sank off the coast of New England on April 10, 1963.
The Thresher was built at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and had a big impact on the New England community. More than a dozen families of the men who died aboard the submarine still live in New Hampshire today.
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-NH, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, led a bipartisan movement in 2018, asking Secretary of the Army Mark Esper to consider designating a memorial to the nuclear submarine.
Last year was the 55th anniversary of the tragedy.
