A friend reminded me that last week was the anniversary of the sinking of the USS Scorpion (SSN-589) and, of course, April saw anniversary #102 of the sinking of the Titanic.
Two technological marvels of their time that unexpectedly sunk and tragically drowned a lot of people.
As it happens, the two are connected–at least the discovery of their locations is.
I first heard of the USS Scorpion when I was a new Navy wife. Someone told me the haunting tale of wives and children lined up at a dock waiting for a submarine to return on its planned day and it never came.
I later realized the story was ridiculous–subs have to maintain radio silence, but they always check in before they come into port. (So the families would not have been waiting) Still, the Navy lost contact with the Scorpion on May 22, 1968, and didn’t find it’s resting location until a couple weeks after–owing to “increased marinelife activity.”
Chilling.
They didn’t know what happened to it, unlike the USS Thresher (SSN-593) which they heard breaking up. Theories abound, and may still be out there, but some 20 years later, the Navy commissioned Dr. Robert Ballard to take a small submersible from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts out to find it. The boat went down off the Azores.
The Scorpion went down off the Azores, islands northwest of Spain.
The deep sea submersible found the Scorpion, took photos, investigated it as best they could and came back. On the way, Ballard asked permission to do a side trip to see if he could find the Titanic. Using information he’d learned from viewing the Scorpion wreckage (heavier items sink first; debris follows currents), he went to the general area of the Atlantic Ocean where the “unsinkable” ship went down.
A week or so later, Ballard drove down to Groton, CT and asked to tour the USS Skipjack (SSN-585), sister ship to the Scorpion. He came aboard, where he saw several old friends and he met my husband–the Chief Engineer.
My husband said it was very eerie to walk the ship with Ballard–who kept stopping to point and comment: “This was missing on the Scorpion.” He had photos and was trying to get a sense of what happened based on what remained intact on her sister ship.
Many on the crew were uncomfortable with him there.
The Navy released a report on the sinking of the Scorpion in 2009. The findings were two unexplained explosions in the forward compartment caused the crew to lose control of the boat. As she sank below crush depth, the boat came apart.
(For those who are interested, Ballard’s research determined the nuclear reactors from both the Scorpion and the Thresher are intact and pose no problems to marine life or anyone else.)
Bow of sunken USS Scorpion; 3,000 feet deep
After the Scorpion and the Thresher sank, the US Navy instituted far-reaching safety features on their submarines which are used to this day. The United States has not lost a submarine since 1968–a credit to the professionalism of nuclear submarine sailors, in my opinion.
But then, I’m prejudiced. 🙂
My family has always been interested in the Titanic story, but have adamantly refused to watch the block-buster movie. But I needed a sense of what the ship was like, and what types of clothing would have been worn at that time, for a book I’m writing and so I checked the film out of the library last week–on May 22. I turned it on and was shocked to discover the movie begins with a Robert Ballard-type character hunting for the Titanic.
I called my husband to watch and he laughed–once a submariner, always a submariner.
I laughed, too. It’s amazing to me how often my research overlaps with my real life.
(Titanic artifacts were displayed at the museum in my home town one summer day we visited!)
Don’t you love it when technological advances designed for one purpose can help solve an historical question? Click to Tweet
What do the Scorpion and the Titanic have in common? Click to Tweet
Finding a sunken boat owing to “increased marine life activity.” Click to Tweet
Fascinating background!
I was always haunted by both stories…and by the disappearance of the Wahoo during WW2. (Forest Sterling’s account of his time as a yeoman on that boat is one of the best stories of submarine service out there.)
And, of course, the Wahoo has now been found, as well.
All the mysteries will be revealed someday, eh? It’s poignant to attend Sunday services at the Navy chapel on the submarine base Pearl Harbor. They end every service with Eternal Father Strong to Save, but always sing the verse about the submariners. They remember one submarine that is “still on patrol.” Sobering.
I always took great consolation only two have not returned since the 1960’s, but my husband is not the only sailor we know with hair raising stories about not nearly making it home.