“The Mystic and the Avalon were built for that very purpose.”īoth DSRVs could go to the site of a submarine accident, “mate” with the damaged sub to rescue sailors and then carry them to safety, she said. “When the Thresher accident happened, the Navy had no way of rescuing survivors of a submarine accident,” museum curator Mary Ryan said. According to the Submarine Force Museum, the Thresher, not even two years old, was “a lead boat in a new class of nuclear-powered, fast-attack submarines.” During a deep-diving test off the coast of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, the submarine did not return to the surface, and the crew of 129 including 17 civilians died. The Mystic and its sister ship, Avalon, were built after the USS Thresher tragedy of 1963. The Mystic, technically called a deep-sea rescue vehicle or DSRV, was one of two such undersea vehicles active from the 1970s to 2008 that provided rapid-response rescue capability for survivors of submarine accidents anywhere in the world. The collection of underwater objects starts in the parking lot, where two rescue submarines, the Mystic and the Trieste II, are on display. Deep-sea rescue vehicle mock-up Outdoor Exhibits Currently, there’s even an eye-catching exhibit about the Navy’s trained dolphins and sea lions that carry out search missions all over the world. The Keyport museum’s focus, as the name says, is on underwater activities and includes a large, comprehensive collection of artifacts related to submarines, unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), torpedoes, mines, technology, and diving and salvage equipment. Each museum has its own area of specialization. Navy’s undersea operations.Īccording to operations director Olivia Wilson, the museum is one of 10 Navy museums in the continental United States (the Puget Sound Navy Museum in Bremerton is a sister museum). The Naval Undersea Museum in Keyport is a trove of artifacts, history and hands-on experiences that tell the stories of the U. It’s one of Kitsap County’s best-kept secrets - a treasure hidden in plain view.

Keyport submarine museum