KITTERY, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Fifty years after the sinking of the USS Thresher, considered to be the world's worst submarine disaster, hundreds gathered in Kittery to dedicate a memorial to the 129 victims.

One foot for each man lost in the accident, a 129 foot flag pole now stands in the center of the Kittery Memorial Circle on Route 1.

Built in Kittery's Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, the USS Thresher sank in 1963 while completing dive trials 220 miles east of Boston.

A leaky pipe sprayed water on the ship's electrical grid, shutting down the ship's reactor and causing it to sink and implode in 8,400 feet of water. All 129 men on board were lost.

After the accident on the Thresher, the US Navy improved submarine safety measures, implementing a new SUBSAFE program.

KITTERY, Maine (NEWS CENTER) - Construction on the Sarah Mildred Long bridge is expect to begin on Monday, a week after a tanker broke loose from a nearby pier and rain into the bridge.

Transportation officials are fast tracking repairs to the bridge which could remain closed for six weeks.

The collison damaged four steel beams on the bridge when the tanker broke loose from it's moorings. A crane on the tanker also cracked areas on the bridge's side walk. Cianbro which will do the reapirs, has already started working on steel fabrication and is expected to set up staging areas at the bridge Saturday.

Engineers are drawing up desings, using the original drawings of the bridge dating back to the 1930's.Crews are working around the clock because re-opening the bridge, which carries about 15-thousand vehicles a day, is a priority.