Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story of the USS Scorpion
April 30, 2007
The U.S.S. Scorpion SSN 589, a 99-man fast attack submarine, sank 400 miles southwest of the Azores on May 22, 1968, a time during the Cold War when the Soviet Navy was expanding and becoming more aggressive. The Navy's top secret court of inquiry, however, theorized that the Scorpion was sunk by its own hot-running torpedo, not an enemy vessel. In this thorough post-mortem, military beat reporter Offley challenges the Navy's official report-including details like when the wreckage was found and what the sub's mission had been-with a succinct charge: "It was all a lie." Offley believes the Scorpion was sunk by the Soviets, in retaliation for the loss of one of their subs two months prior. Using the U.S.S. Pueblo incident of January, 1968, in which key cryptography gear was lost, Offley connects the dots between the Navy, the John Walker spy ring, and Soviet intelligence to conclude that the Russians had access to all of the Navy's most secret communications, allowing them to ambush the Scorpion. Most of Offley's argument, while compelling, is based solely on interviews with former Navy personnel, and a lack of factual evidence weakens it. Still, this well-told narrative history holds much appeal for naval historians and conspiracy buffs.
Starred review from September 15, 2007
On May 22, 1968, the Skipjack-class fast attack nuclear submarine "USS Scorpion" sank 12,000 feet to the abyssal plain of the Atlantic Ocean, a few hundred miles south of the Azores. "Scorpion" had been engaged in secret operations against the Soviets for nearly a decade. Military historian and journalist Offley, at the time a newspaperman in Norfolk, VA, interviewed various family members and naval officers and wrote several articles about the tragedy. A number of aspects of the event intrigued Offley, and he kept a close eye on the oddly sparse accounts that appeared over a period of years. The intricacies of the search-and-rescue operationlater search aloneare nicely detailed. For much of the later text, the author analyzes all the proposed causes for the sinkingpoor maintenance, the detonation of one of "Scorpion"s own torpedoes either inside or outside the boat, a malfunction of the rather large batteries on board leading to a minor explosion that breached the hull, or a blunder that caused the "Scorpion" to exceed crush depth (between 1000 and 2000 feet). For various reasons, Offley dismisses all of them and argues convincingly that Cold War tensions led to the deliberate sinking by the Soviets and that both the Soviets and Washington hushed it up. Richard Ferrone is a terrific reader; his gravelly voice fairly crackles with intensity throughout, injecting a cant-put-it-down element into this very well-written text. A first-class audiobook; highly recommended.Don Wismer, Cary Memorial Lib., Wayne, ME
Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
Starred review from December 31, 2007
Offley's superb research and Ferrone's excellent audio rendering of it give listeners a rare and frightening insight into a long-forgotten Cold War incident. The USS Scorpion
, a 99-man fast-attack submarine, sank in 1968, at a point when the Soviet navy was becoming more aggressive. The U.S. Navy's court of inquiry decided that the Scorpion
was sunk by its own hot-running torpedo, not an enemy vessel. But Offley's research supports his theory that the Soviets sank the sub. As tense as this sounds, the riveting story gains even more power and excitement thanks to Ferrone's clean, spare reading. He keeps up his cool, steady pace for 15 hours and gives each character a definite flavor. In the end, if Offley is the star of the book, the main reason for investing in the excellent audio version is Richard Ferrone. Simultaneous release with the Perseus hardcover.