A Long Successful Service
The blighted submarine lived on for a long time after that, despite the fact that she appeared to be surplus to needs at the time of her destruction. Authorities decommissioned Grayback in May of 1964, as a result of the introduction of a new batch of Polaris projectiles and submarines into service by that year. The submarine, which had been assigned to the function of the amphibious submarine, was reactivated in August 1968 and given the new name of the LPSS-574 when she returned to service. Her modified missile storehouse was now capable of transporting a total of 67 passengers on board.
A Long Successful Service
Operation Thunderhead
In June of 1972, Grayback delivered a team of Navy SEALs to the Vietnam coast, where they were based. He and his comrades had been sent to Vietnam for Operation Thunderhead, which was an effort to save two U.S. airmen who they thought would have managed to escape from a Viet Cong camp for prisoners of war. Unbeknownst to them, however, the Navy’s race for freedom was called off. In the course of trying to find the guys, one SEAL in the name of Lieutenant Melvin Dry, was killed when he jumped out of a helicopter during the search.
Operation Thunderhead
