Ed Offley - Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon

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Journalist Ed Offley wants us to know that the official story of how the USS Scorpion (SSN-589) went down, that an unknown event caused the submarine to lose control and fall below crush depth with all hands on board, is a lie. Offley believes that the Scorpion was torpedoed by the Soviets, perhaps in retaliation for the loss of the Soviet Golf II sub K-129 two months earlier, and the story covered up by the Navies of both sides in order to avert an all out war.

Sound far fetched? I love a good conspiracy as much as the next guy but I thought it sounded a bit far fetched too. I am pleased to say that Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story of the USS Scorpion exceeded my expectations. No, Offley doesn't have the smoking gun uncensored memorandum or one of the SOSUS readouts from May 22, 1968. What he has are interviews from Navy personnel from enlisted through admiral, from different ships and departments that were all involved with the search for the Scorpion in some fashion.

The book isn't only about a submarine and the alleged cover-up concerning its fate. It's also a good overview of the history and role of the submarine, the nuclear submarine in particular, during the Cold War.

The nuclear engineer geek in me enjoyed reading about the history of the development of the US and Soviet nuclear submarines as well as the process used to bring a Skipjack class sub to power.