Ledyard Woman Recalls Loss Of Father, Uncle Aboard USS Thresher

When the USS Thresher was lost on April 10, 2013, Penny Craig’s family was dealt a double blow. Both her father and her uncle were among the 129 crew members and civilian technicians who died aboard the nuclear submarine in the nation’s worst submarine disaster. 

“I was five years old,” said Craig. “I didn’t know when it was that I finally found out what had happened. I knew something bad had happened.” 

Craig, who now lives in Florida, was born at Sub Base New London and grew up in Ledyard. She was one of four children of Benjamin Shafer, a master chief electrician’s mate in the Navy. 

According to a profile at a Thresher memorial site, Shafer was a 1944 Fitch High School graduate who served in World War II and worked at Electric Boat after he was discharged from the Navy. He returned to the service in 1949, later volunteering for submarine duty. He served on two other submarines before he was assigned to the Thresher. 

Shafer’s younger brother, John Shafer, followed a similar career. He graduate from Fitch in 1947, joined the Navy, and volunteered for submarine duty. He served aboard four submarines before taking nuclear power training and joining Benjamin aboard the Thresher. 

Penny says she mostly remembers what her mother told her about her father. In one photo, she is grabbing onto Benjamin’s arm. She said her mother told her she joked, “That’s my daddy” and that she responded by gripping him and saying, “No, that’s my daddy!” 

Craig recently returned to New England to attend memorials in Portsmouth, N.H. and Kittery, Me. recognizing the 50th anniversary of the Thresher’s loss. The submarine was built at the Portsmouth Naval Yard in Kittery and left this port on her final voyage. 

“It’s very emotional,” said Craig. “It was really great up at the memorial to meet a lot of men who served with my dad and get their memories of him, since I had so few of my own.” 

Craig visited her son in Waterford and attended another service on Wednesday at Mitchell College after hearing that the school would hold one. Capt. Bruce Derenski of Navy Submarine Group Two delivered the keynote address at this service. 

“I really loved the captain’s speech. It was very moving,” said Craig. “I really appreciate that they’re not forgotten.”