Early in 1963 PARIS MATCH, a French magazine similar to our own LIFE MAGAZINE
of those years, sent a crew of reporters and photographers to the SHARK to produce
an article about Atomic Submarines, its Captain and Crew. This was sparked, in part, by
Shark's earlier Mediterranean cruise. While anchored in Toulon, France, President Charles
de Gaulle was entertained aboard.
Of course the magazine production effort went through the
approvals of Vice Admiral Hyman G. Rickover, Vice Admiral Elton W. Grenfell (COMSUBLANT),
and a host of other officers, some assigned to Security.
Security was a "watch-word." The French personnel were
not allowed into the Engineering Spaces; being prevented from entering the Reactor
Compartment, the SONAR Room, or the Radio Room. All gauges, meters, etc., that gave any
indication of the operating characteristics of the Shark were obscured with covers,
snap=on coverlets, or similar devices. Nevertheless the information and photos for the
article were acquired.
Before the article could be released tragedy struck the submarine
community. On April 10, 1963, the USS THRESHER, SS(N)593, sank off of the coast of
New England during Sea Trials with all souls aboard.
USS THRESHER SS(N)593 |
|
 |
The editors of Paris
Match quickly put together an inclusion about the Thresher and the combined
article was released in late Summer, 1963.
Six copies of the magazine made it to the Shark. When it was
decided to include the article into the Shark "memorabilia," an exhaustive
search was made that included world-wide magazine sources. The only copy to be found was
in possession of Captain Zeb Alford (Commending Officer, 62-63).
Captain Zeb has graciously provided a redacted copy prepared by
his four daughters for his 80th birthday on March, 18, 2005.
This copy, however, provided some mechanical problems. The
original trim size was 11 x 15 inches, outside the scope of most scanners and printers in
commercial use. So the copy was segmented into manageable pieces (in one case combining
the text from two different pages) and reassembling them to produce the Presentation of
the magazine's contents.
Images framed in red may be "clicked" upon for a full
or enlarged image.
This Presentation has been constructed on a 800x600 pixel base in
HTML (without Java or other scripts to preclude difficulty in assembly for some users).
The page print sizes are set for 7 inched wide by 9-1/4 long (to allow for ISP/browser
headers and footers), Gutters between columns (when used) are nominally slightly over 1/4
inch.
And special thanks to Mr. Pierre-Yues Adeux and Mrs Fransoise
Adeux as the translators from the original French into English, referred by Wayne Davison
(Shark 59-63) in Rolla, Missouri. |