What Happened After The Incident
Mind you, the sub went on to have a long life after this incident. It is hard to believe that it was initially deemed surplus. By 1964, the Navy had access to a new generation of missiles and submarines. This is the reason the Grayback got decommissioned in May of the same year. However, she returned to active service as an amphibious transport submarine in August 1968. It was given a new designation, LPSS-572. The adapted missile silos had been capable of carrying as many as 67 people inside of it. In June 1972, the Grayback took a Navy SEAL unit to Vietnam. This was part of an attempt to rescue two US airmen who were thought to have left a prisoner-of-war camp ran by the Viet Cong. The plan is known as Operation Thunderhead. The Navy, however, did not know that the mission had already been aborted. In an effort to find these men, a SEAL called Lieutenant Melvin Spence Dry died as he parachuted from a chopper.
What Happened After The Incident
There Was One More Tragedy
In 1982, the Grayback saw more tragedy as it got into an accident that led to the death of five Navy divers. The men had been taking a training dive and got back to the vessel, which was traveling in Subic Bay off the coast of Luzon in the Philippines. A ventilation valve malfunctioned, which led to the death of the five men in a decompression chamber. In January 1984, the Navy ultimately decommissioned the new Grayback not long after the tragic event. Despite this, she had one final role to fulfill. It required the sub to be decorated in orange. With this new color scheme, the vessel got towed out to Subic Bay on April 13th, 1986. It was then used as a vessel for target practice. This marks the end of the story of the beloved Grayback. We are confident enough to say that its legacy lives on to this day.
There Was One More Tragedy