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Trieste on Call. The Navy is reasonably sure by now that Thresher lies close by, under a small area of ocean marked by bright orange buoys. Hopefully, the Trieste will soon photograph the actual wreck. The depth will be moderate for the Trieste, which has already cruised to the bottom of the Marianas Trench off Guam, 35,800 ft. down, but the strong currents off Cape Cod are a serious threat. Though proof against water pressure in the deepest ocean, Trieste has feeble propulsion. She can creep only four or five miles at about 1.4 m.p.h.; during the 45 minutes that it will take Trieste Skipper Lieut. Commander Donald L. Keach to guide his strange craft to the bottom, unexpected currents may carry her out of sight of the sunken submarine.
If Thresher eludes both Trieste and the oceanographers' instruments, the Navy has one more ace up its gold-braided sleeve. It has worked out a scheme for scuttling the decommissioned submarine Toro near the place where Thresher sank. As Toro settles through the water followed by sonar beams, she will tell how the currents affect a sinking submarine. Her crushed hulk lying on the bottom, its position pinpointed, will tell the dogged Navy, as it continues its search, what Thresher should look like to oceanographic instruments.
*Just such a break, concluded a Navy Court of Inquiry last week, probably sank the sub by flooding the engine room with sea water.