Why did the USS Thresher blow up?

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I was watching a documentary about the sinking of nuclear submarine USS Thresher. When it sunk, it blew up, why was that? Shouldn’t it just crush under the extreme pressure at that depth (of over 1300 feet)
I don’t find any info on the internet about it

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4 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Implosion not Explosion

USS Thresher lost propulsion as a result of a reactor scram. The weld on one of the cooling pipes is believed to failed causing a lose of cooling pressure which shut down the reactor.

With a loss of propulsion the crew would have tried to clear ballast to float back to the surface, but ice is believed to have formed in the pipes preventing the ballast from being cleared.

So the ship sank past its crush depth and imploded.

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