Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story of the USS Scorpion

by Ed Offley

Book Overview

One Navy admiral called it "one of the greatest unsolved sea mysteries of our era." The U.S. Navy officially describes it an inexplicable accident. For decades, the real story of the disaster eluded... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0465051855
• Release Date: April 2007
• Publisher: Basic Books
• Length: 482 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.5" x 1.3" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Super interesting read.

Thanks to author Ed Offley for researching and writing Scorpion Down. Excellent and informative read. Also author is great teacher, kind with his time and explanations. If you want to learn about a nuclear sub operation and heros who operate them this is the book for you. Loved book and author. Shout out to the family of Seaman Preminins from the Russia. Thank you for saving east coast of US where I live.

A book that makes you think about the US government's activities.

If the theories and speculations put forth in the book can ever be substantiated by material or FOIA-released document proof, it will certainly cast a new light on the US government's and military's activities surrounding this whole period of history. This book is well-written in an easy-to-follow narrative that constantly refreshes your memory of key facts so you don't have to constantly be turning back to reread something you may have forgotten. Extensively footnoted with an impressive bibliography. This author, even if his theory is bogus, has certainly "hit the pavement" and done his homework before putting words to paper. If you are in any way interested in the Cold War period or the development of nuclear submarines in general in the US and Russia, this is a must-read for you.

I finally found out what really happened to the USS Scorpian

Ed Offley spent over 25 years doing deep reseach on the loss of the fast attack submarine Scorpian. I recently read "Silent Steel" which provided a very plausable answer based on all the "official information" provided by the Navy. I am grateful to Mr Offley for spending as much time as he did to find out the real truth. He is a true journalist in the strictest sense as the supporting bibliography cannot be refutiated. His book is a must read as there is so much more than I imagined. I found the book riveting and spent all my free time to finish reading it. WOW!

Scorpion Down

I was in Rota, Spain serving in the Navy at the time Scorpion was lost. The events detailed in the book are the best and most authentic I've ever read. The Naval community held much information back from the public during the 60's concerning the Soviets. This is just one example of many.

Well written, plausible theory on the loss of the Scorpion

Well written book by a military affairs journalist who's followed the Scorpion story for 25 years. Briefly, his theory on the sequence of events leading to the submarine's loss: - The U.S. Navy Submarine Service, to the major irritation of the Soviets, aggressively played chicken with Soviet subs throughout the 50's-70's (widely acknowledged, there were several collisions) - The Walker spy ring gave the Soviets the ability to read encrypted Navy communications starting in the mid-60's, fully realized with the siezure of Navy cryptographic equipment on the Pueblo in early 1968 - Soviet submarine K-129 was lost with all hands in the Pacific in early 1968; the U.S. submarine Swordfish sailed into Yokosuka shortly thereafter with major damage, leading the Soviets to believe that it collided with K-129 and was responsible for its sinking (btw, for a truly alternative theory of the K-129's loss, read "Red Star Rogue"). - The Soviets believed the U.S. Submarine Service had blood on its hands and wanted revenge. They knew, from decrypted communications, that the Scorpion had been diverted to spy on a Soviet naval exercise near the Azores on its trip back to Norfolk from the Mediterranean. An Echo II Soviet submarine waited for the Scorpion, and sank her. To avoid starting a war in what was already an ugly year (Pueblo, Tet, MLK and Bobby Kennedy asassinations, riots, etc.), the U.S. Navy covered up the sinking. The author doesn't present any smoking guns, but he's interviewed dozens of former naval officers and enlisted men who confirm that the real details of what happened weren't in keeping with the official story (both the then current Chief of Naval Operations and the then-Commander of the Atlantic Submarine Force told him in the '80s that there was a frantic search under way days before the Navy officially acknowledged it had cause for concern, and the former U.S. naval attache to Moscow got hints from Soviet naval officers that the two navies agreed never to discuss Scorpion or K-129. It's not ironclad, but it's certainly plausible and well researched, and offers a well-written background narrative of the history of the U.S. and Soviet submarine services and their roles in the Cold War. Well worth reading.

First Rate, In Depth Story of a Shameful Cover-up.

This book is amazing in detail and depth of investigation. I was lucky enough to get an advance copy, and I was amazed at how much I learned of a period in American history in which I was a young adult and thought I knew what was going on. Ed Offley's book opens your eyes to the real dangers we faced in our Cold War confrontation with the Russian submarine fleet. He carefully follows the events leading up to the sinking, and details the machinations behind the decision to cover the incident. He has interviewed exhaustively, and unearthed facts that may have been hidden forever had he not begun to unravel the mystery years ago. Ed Offley's background as an investigative and military reporter serves him well in this book. He has tracked down sources who were there, and persuaded them to talk. The stories of the lost men are heartbreaking, and deserve to be told. The men may be lost, but because of this book, their stories are not. This is a fascinating book, and well worth the read!