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    Incontrovertible Proof: The Sinking of SSN-589 USS Scorpion: What Really Happened!
    Incontrovertible Proof: The Sinking of SSN-589 USS Scorpion: What Really Happened!
    Incontrovertible Proof: The Sinking of SSN-589 USS Scorpion: What Really Happened!
    Ebook102 pages1 hour

    Incontrovertible Proof: The Sinking of SSN-589 USS Scorpion: What Really Happened!

    By James J. Simpson MM1 (SS)

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    About this ebook

    On May 22, 1968, USS Scorpion SSN-589 sunk under mysterious circumstances, tragically killing everyone on board. After twenty-five years, the documents surrounding the incident become unclassified, shedding light on what may have occurred. Though the cause of the sinking of USS Scorpion is officially listed as “unknown”, the released information illuminates vital details that may finally lead to an explanation.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDorrance Publishing Company
    Release dateApr 12, 2024
    ISBN9798891271883
    Incontrovertible Proof: The Sinking of SSN-589 USS Scorpion: What Really Happened!

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      Book preview

      Incontrovertible Proof - James J. Simpson MM1 (SS)

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      The contents of this work, including, but not limited to, the accuracy of events, people, and places depicted; opinions expressed; permission to use previously published materials included; and any advice given or actions advocated are solely the responsibility of the author, who assumes all liability for said work and indemnifies the publisher against any claims stemming from publication of the work.

      All Rights Reserved

      Copyright © 2024 by James J. Simpson MM1 (SS)

      No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted, downloaded, distributed, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, including photocopying and recording, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without permission in writing from the publisher.

      Dorrance Publishing Co

      585 Alpha Drive

      Pittsburgh, PA 15238

      Visit our website at www.dorrancebookstore.com

      ISBN: 979-8-89127-690-1

      eISBN: 979-8-89127-188-3

      What follows is a list of acronyms that persons reading this book may find necessary to consult if that person is unfamiliar with the inter-workings of a submarine and the nomenclature involved.

      Torpedo Room   TR

      Operations Compartment   OPS or Ops

      Reactor Compartment   RC

      Auxiliary Machinery Room   AMR

      Engine Room   ER

      Maneuvering Room – Small cubical located at the forward end of the Engine Room centralizing control of the nuclear propulsion plant.

      Ballast Control Panel   BCP – Control panel located in the upper level of the Operations Compartment centralizing control of pumping water between tanks internal to the submarine to adjust trim angle and minor adjustments of negative and positive buoyancy.

      Main Ballast Tanks   MBT – Tanks located external to the pressure hull. Venting the tanks causes the tanks to flood causing the submarine to submerge. Blowing high pressure air into the tanks when submerged causes the tanks to de-flood adding positive buoyancy causing the ship to surface. These tanks are arranged in two groups of 6 tanks each. The forward group surrounds the Torpedo Room and the after group surrounds the Auxiliary Machinery Room.

      Escape Trunks -- Two, one located in the Torpedo Room the other in the Engine Room. Used as an emergency escape from the submarine by personnel in relatively shallow water <300 feet. Also used for escape in waters > 300 feet by Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle (DSRV).

      Bulkhead – A dividing wall between two compartments. ER/AMR bulkhead describes the wall separating the Engine Room and Auxiliary Machinery Room.

      Starboard – right side of a ship.

      Port – left side of a ship.

      Stern – back end of a ship.

      Bow – front end of a ship. (pronounced bawl)

      Knot – kt. – kts. (plural) Speed of a ship thru water. One knot is 6,000 feet (1 nautical mile) per hour or 100 feet per minute.

      Example – A ship traveling at 35 kts., travels 3,500 feet/minute.

      Preface

      The author of this document was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1945. Enlisted in the Navy in 1963. After initial schooling in the nuclear power program, I was assigned to the USS Thomas A. Edison, SSBN-610, in May 1965. I remained aboard the Edison until 1972, when I decided to leave the Navy in July of that year as a Machinist Mate 1st class, qualified in submarines, MM 1 (SS). During my time on Edison, I made 11 Polaris deterrent patrols. Having qualified in submarines in 1966, I deepened my knowledge of the construction of the vessel during the Edison’s first yard overhaul and refueling in Charleston, SC. I now make my home in the Tidewater area of Virginia. There is a memorial in Newport News displaying the names of those who perished on Scorpion. I regularly attend the services held there, usually on Memorial Day weekend.

      This book is dedicated to the memory of the 99 shipmates who perished aboard the USS Scorpion, SSN-589 on the evening of May 22nd, 1968.

      There are a number of other books or documents written on the subject of how the submarine USS Scorpion sank. After reading these books/documents, I formed and opinion that the authors had not researched the facts correctly. None of the authors seem to have served on submarines, denying them the insight as to the elements involved in the sinking.

      Most of the information regarding the sinking was held in secret by the Navy following its investigation. That investigation officially concluded on January 31, 1969, eight months after the sinking. The Court of Inquiry released a terse, finely worded statement on that date. "After careful weighing of all the resulting evidence the Court finds that there is still no incontrovertible proof of the exact cause or causes of the Scorpions loss." The Navy has held fast to this statement in the 50+ years following the sinking. For that reason, the writing of this document became necessary.

      The Navy was quite meticulous on collecting all the forensic evidence pertaining to the sinking. Though this evidence was quite minimal, the Navy did employ the best and brightest minds in the evaluation of that evidence.

      My interest in in this disaster first started in the late ‘90s when I viewed a couple of TV shows on the History and Discovery channels. Videos of the actual wreckage were shown. Then, around 2004 I read the book Silent Steel by Stephen Johnson. Much of what was said in the novel was easily verifiable from my own qualifications and experiences on board Edison. While Edison was a boomer of the Ethan Allen class, minus the Missile Compartment, it was essentially a Skipjack class submarine.

      As it became clear that the submarine had sunk prior to its due arrival date May 27, 1968, the Navy’s first job was to locate the wreckage which was known to exist somewhere in the expanse of the North Atlantic. Although antiquated by todays sound detection systems, there did exist a sound detection system with listening post in Argentia, Newfoundland and La Palma, Canary Islands. From these acoustic events recorded on the evening of May 22nd, 1968 the Navy was able to predict 12-mile square area of the Atlantic Ocean were the wreckage of the Scorpion lay. State-of-the-art then for finding stuff at the 12,000-foot level was to tow a sled looking at every square foot of each of the 144 square miles. This took some time, five months to be exact. And so, upon discovery, 750 black and white photographs were taken and evaluated.

      As one will read in the following text of this document, the Navy failed to separate the information established from the recorded acoustic events and the pictures. Specifically, the acoustic events told of the location where breakup occurred and perhaps one large acoustic event attributable to hull collapse at crush depth. The pictures on the other hand, showed the broken parts of the submarine. While some of these parts came to be from the hull collapse event, other parts cried-out as to an event that occurred some 22 minutes earlier. This initial event was the single event that caused the loss of the Scorpion. Also, in the time span between the initial event and hull collapse there were other significant events that contributed to the sinking but were not the exact cause of the sinking.

      My conclusions are based simply on reading the wreckage using the 4-W method:

      1) What happened?

      2) Why did it happen?

      3) Where did it happen?

      4) When did it

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