Of all the Sailors to ply the oceans, perhaps none know the ocean is a harsh and unforgiving mistress better than those who serve aboard submarines.
52 years ago today, on May 22, 1968, USS Scorpion was lost with all hands. 99 crewmen on eternal patrol.
She was found four months later in October, approximately 400 nautical miles southwest of the Azores in 9,800 feet of water.
Cause is "unknown", but it's theorized she may have had a hydrogen explosion during a battery charge or a problem with a Mark 37 torpedo (maybe a "hot run"). It's also theorized there may have been flooding via the Trash Disposal Unit or even a Soviet attack.
The second nuclear submarine to be lost by the United States, she and the USS Thresher are often referred to as being on "Port and Starboard watches".
In the macabre humor submariners have, there are times when we're perfectly aware that it's entirely possible to place the Thresher and Scorpion in "three section duty".
You can Google images of the wreckage, but here's one showing the stern which "telescoped" into the engineroom when the hull fractured as the ship passed through crush depth. Note how sea pressure also crushed the stern planes enough to clearly see the underlying ribs.
Fair winds and following seas, shipmates. We'll meet again on Fiddler's Green.
52 years ago today, on May 22, 1968, USS Scorpion was lost with all hands. 99 crewmen on eternal patrol.
She was found four months later in October, approximately 400 nautical miles southwest of the Azores in 9,800 feet of water.
Cause is "unknown", but it's theorized she may have had a hydrogen explosion during a battery charge or a problem with a Mark 37 torpedo (maybe a "hot run"). It's also theorized there may have been flooding via the Trash Disposal Unit or even a Soviet attack.
The second nuclear submarine to be lost by the United States, she and the USS Thresher are often referred to as being on "Port and Starboard watches".
In the macabre humor submariners have, there are times when we're perfectly aware that it's entirely possible to place the Thresher and Scorpion in "three section duty".
You can Google images of the wreckage, but here's one showing the stern which "telescoped" into the engineroom when the hull fractured as the ship passed through crush depth. Note how sea pressure also crushed the stern planes enough to clearly see the underlying ribs.
Fair winds and following seas, shipmates. We'll meet again on Fiddler's Green.