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