Book Review: All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion

I read this book most recently, and so have skipped over a couple of book reviews of books that I actually read around Halloween.  I have those wrote up as well, but am going to post them in the next couple of days - time permitting.  Life is busy lately.  So what work I've done that is related to this blog has been piecemeal at best.

But as always, thanks for reading my stuff.  It makes it worth it to know the work is not without small rewards.  Hopefully someday, it'll be worth more than chump change.  But then we could all use a little somethin'-somethin', as they say.

Source: Amazon.com

All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion, by Kenneth Sewell and Jerome Preisler

From the book’s cover:

Forty years ago, in May 1968, the submarine USS Scorpion sank in mysterious circumstances with a loss of ninety-nine lives. The tragedy occurred during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and it followed by only weeks the sinking of a Soviet sub near Hawaii. Now in All Hands Down, drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, many with exclusive sources in the naval and intelligence communities, as well as recently declassified United States and Soviet intelligence files, Kenneth Sewell and Jerome Preisler explain what really happened to Scorpion.

In January 1968, a U.S. intelligence ship, USS Pueblo, was seized by North Korea. Among other items, the North Koreans confiscated a valuable cryptographic unit that was capable of deciphering the Navy's top-secret codes. Unknown to the Navy, a traitor named John Walker had begun supplying the Navy's codes to the KGB. Once the KGB acquired the crypto unit from the North Koreans, the Russians were able to read highly classified naval communications.

In March, a Soviet sub, K-129, mysteriously sank near Hawaii, hundreds of miles from its normal station in the Pacific. Soviet naval leaders mistakenly believed that a U.S. submarine was to blame for the loss, and they planned revenge. A trap was set: several Soviet vessels were gathered in the Atlantic, acting suspiciously. It would be only a matter of time before a U.S. sub was sent to investigate. That sub was Scorpion. Using the top-secret codes and the deciphering machine, the Soviets could intercept and decode communication between the Navy and Scorpion, the final element in carrying out the planned attack.

All Hands Down shows how the Soviet plan was executed and explains why the truth of the attack has been officially denied for forty years. Sewell and Preisler debunk various official explanations for the tragedy and bring to life the personal stories of some of the men who were lost when Scorpion went to the bottom. This true story, finally told after exhaustive research, is more exciting than any novel.


Synopsis:

The book material gives a pretty clear synopsis of this one, so I'll just hit the highlights. Authors Sewell and Preisler give an account of the events leading up to the loss of the USS Scorpion, a nuclear "fast attack" submarine lost with all hands in the late 1960s. They hypothesize that, due to damage suffered by another U.S. submarine, the Seawolf (I believe it was the Seawolf - there are a lot of subs in this thing), and the loss of a Russian boat near the same time, that the Soviet Admiral of the Fleet at the time (Gorshkov) came up with a plan for retribution. The victim of this plan was the Scorpion. The authors hypothesize (I keep using that word, and you'll soon see why) that the Soviets lured the Scorpion in with some unusual naval maneuvers, and then sank her with a short range torpedo dropped from a helicopter.

In addition, the book talks about the Soviet navy at the time, the lives of many of the men and the widows of those who died on the Scorpion, and the various circumstances surrounding the Scorpion case. The book begins with the story of the diving bell that went down to locate the Scorpion's wreck where it lies on the sea floor, and ends with a "rendering" of what the attack on the submarine would have been like and then what has happened since it was lost at sea.

There is also some material on the Walker spy thing, which the authors believe was tied in to the loss of the Scorpion, and the capture of the USS Pueblo, which was taken by the North Koreans in disputed waters, as well as mention of the USS Liberty, which was a really sad story in and of itself (it was attacked by the Israelis, who apologized profusely afterward, but the general belief is that they did it to prevent the U.S. from interfering in the Six-Day War). The book covers a lot of ground, so to speak (most of the terrain being water, that is).

The authors Kenneth Sewell (top) and Jerome Preisler (bottom) / Source: Authors.SimonAndShuster.com (Sewell) and Amazon.com (Preisler).

What I liked about it:

All Hands Down reads like fiction, which certainly makes for exciting reading (keep the "fiction" part in mind). And the subject matter is very interesting. I especially liked the story about the Scorpion's sailor whose girlfriend had a bad dream the night before the boat sailed and so she stole his keys and kept him from making it onboard. He got thirty days in the naval base's brig, but her premonition saved his life. Even better was that they (the authors) described how this guy spent his life bouncing up and down the ranks and having general difficulties. Survivor's guilt and the like. It made for a very human touch to this already very personal tale.

All in all, the book was quite well written. I enjoyed hearing the point of view it provides, though as I am about to show, I think they might have avoided calling it the "true" story. It is not conclusively proven what happened. See my Recommendation for my theory on what really happened to the USS Scorpion.


Footage from the time of the Scorpion underway, as well as the search for her after she was declared missing.

What I didn’t like about it:

In a nutshell: The part in the title about it being the "true" story. This book presents a theory. It has not been proven that the Scorpion went down for any specific reason that I am aware of. And there are certainly counter-arguments to the Soviet attack hypothesis. To that end, I have combed the web (well, glanced through in a hurry is more like it) and below I have provided the best version of those other arguments I found. If you want, you can skip this next part (italicized below) and take my word for it, but if you are curious about the authenticity of the the book's claims, then here you go:

ABSTRACT: Photography of the wreckage confirms SCORPION experienced catastrophic, pressure-induced collapse at great depth. The conjecture advanced by ALL HANDS DOWN that the Soviets torpedoed SCORPION is thus exposed as a fictional invention without substance or credibility.

PREFACE: In an article in the June 17, 2007 edition of the HONOLULU STAR BULLETIN entitled "Expert Torpedoes Book on USS SCORPION," Dr. John Craven who was, in 1968, a member of the Navy's SCORPION Court of Inquiry and then or later the chief scientist of the Navy's Special Projects Office and Head of the Deep Submergence Systems Project and the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle program, called SCORPION DOWN, Ed Offley's book on the loss of SCORPION, "irresponsible speculation" and "absolutely and completely wrong" for advancing the same theory as ALL HANDS DOWN (AHD), i.e., that the Soviets sank SCORPION wth a torpedo.

If Jerome Preisler, co-author of AHD, does not agree with the following review of his book, he should ask Dr. John Craven, now living in Kahala, Hawaii, to review AHD and post his review on Amazon.com.

DISCUSSION: AHD is like the mythological nine-headed hydra of Lerna; you can use reasoned technical arquments to cut off one head (the hardcover edition); however, you still have to deal with other heads that appear on Amazon.com as the paperback edition, the Audio CD, the Audio Download and used copies of some of these formats, all of which advance the "lurid conspiracy theory" that the Soviets sank the US nuclear submarine SCORPION with a torpedo in the east-central Atlantic on 22 May 1968.

This conjecture (premise) has been supported by a cadre of the co-author's surrogates who have posted five-star Amazon.com reviews of AHD and/or attacked the technical background (bona fides) of anyone who questions that premise.

It now appears useful to write a summary review that exposes AHD for what it is: a poorly researched effort that ignores a wealth of technical information that confirms SCORPION was lost because of an onboard problem the crew could not overcome. There was no Soviet complicity in the event. This summary review, posted on 3 July 2009, replaces earlier reviews.

REVIEW: There is so much technically wrong with AHD that no review of reasonable length can address all the errors; therefore, only the basic AHD premise that the Soviets torpedoed SCORPION is rebutted by the following summaries:

- (1) Photographic coverage of the SCORPION wreckage, which is in several major sections, confirms the pressure-hull collapsed in two places separated by about 90-feet. If, as postulated by AHD, SCORPION had been sunk by a Soviet torpedo, the submarine would lie on the bottom basically intact with a single hole in the hull. This would be the case because flooding through any such hole would have collapsed all the internal bulkheads, which were less pressure-resistant than the pressure-hull, and fully-flooded (pressure-equalized) SCORPION before it sank to pressure-hull collapse depth.

Photo from the dive on the USS Scorpion showing the boat's sail, which came detached from the submarine - probably upon impact with the ocean floor. Note: this photo is included here as it fits R.B. Rule's description of the events.  It is not included in his writings. / Source: History.Navy.mil

 The feature of the SCORPION wreck that unambiguously confirms the pressure-hull was intact until it collapsed at great depth is the "telescoping" of one after pressure-hull section within another section by 50-feet. This is the "signature" of a pressure-induced failure because such telescoping could have occurred only if force sufficient to produce collapse was applied equally - uniformly around - the entire SCORPION pressure-hull. The explosion of a torpedo warhead would apply force only upon the area of the pressure-hull where impact occurred, and, as discussed above, the pressure-hull would not have collapsed after it was breached by a torpedo because it would have become fully-flooded before reaching collapse depth.

Based on the photo-documented condition of the SCORPION wreckage, the inescapable conclusion is that, while still intact, the pressure-hull experienced catastrophic, pressure-induced failure at great depth. On this single point, the AHD Soviet torpedo conjecture edifice collapses and the book is exposed as a fictional invention without substance or credibility.

- (2) Reanalysis of acoustic signals detected before, during and after the pressure-hull collapse at 18:42:34 Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) on 22 May 1968 indicate the initiating events responsible for the loss of SCORPION were two small explosions that occurred at 18:20:44 GMT within the pressure-hull but which did not breach that structure. Because of these events, the crew could not maintain depth-control. SCORPION sank to collapse depth: 1530-feet. Sections of the pressure-hull and all internal bulkheads were completely destroyed in one-tenth of a second by sea-pressure (680 psi) with a force equal to the explosion of 13,200 lbs of TNT at the collapse depth. This is the force that fragmented the SCORPION far beyond the capabilities of a torpedo warhead of several hundred pounds of TNT.

- (3) Commander Submarine Forces Atlantic message date-time-group 271946 GMT May 1968 provides the position reported by SCORPION at 0001 GMT on 22 May and the intended course (290) and speed (18-knots) for the remainder of the transit to Norfolk, VA. At the time of the internal explosions, SCORPION should have been 330 nautical miles (nm) from her 0001 GMT position. The wreckage lies 297 nm, bearing 290 from the 0001 GMT position which indicates SCORPION was precisely on course and within 33 nm of where she should have been at a speed of 18-knots, a difference well within that permitted by standard operating procedures. This circumstance indicates the condition that resulted in the loss of SCORPION was the immediate result of the internal explosive events and not the result of an extended duration, evolving situation of which the internal explosions were the culminating events. A major casualty that occurred at transit depth and resulted in the loss of propulsion and electrical power is consistent with the failure of SCORPION to transmit a message subsequent to the 18:20:44 GMT time of the internal explosive events.

All who need to examine the detailed technical analyses of the SCORPION acoustic data, which include reproductions of the original signal displays provided by engineers who participated in the 1968 analysis, should address a Freedom of Information Act request to the Naval History and Heritage Command in Washington, DC.

To defuse additional attacks on this writer's credibility by AHD co-author Jerome Preisler's cadre of surrogates, note that this writer was, for 42-years, the lead acoustic analyst at the Office of Naval Intelligence and, in 2003, wrote the document that remains the Navy's official assessment of the dynamic and acoustic characteristics of submarine bulkhead and pressure-hull collapse events. All analyses of original SCORPION acoustic data this writer has provided to Navy commands have been pro bono publico.

CONCLUSION: Multiple lines of evidence confirm SCORPION was lost because of an onboard problem the crew could not overcome. There was no involvement by any Soviet naval forces.

The preceding information is from an Amazon.com review of the Book All Hands Down, and is attributed to an "R.B. Rule." I don't know the "Mr. Rule," but in other submarine texts I have read, I have seen similar arguments made (Red November I believe was the book that first comes to mind - see my review of that book for details). For the stuff provided above, I gotta say that it sounds fairly convincing to me. Therefore I have included it. If you don't agree and say that yes, the Soviets sank the Scorpion, I refer you to "R. B. Rule."


A CGI interpretation of the internal explosion theory that would have taken USS Scorpion to the bottom.

My beef is with All Hands Down is solely contained in the use of the word "true" in the title, and the pronouncements by the authors that make their side of the story seem to be indefatigable. As to what actually happened to the Scorpion... well, read my Recommendation, and you'll see my personal thoughts on the matter.

What I learned, if anything:

The background information on the sailors who died aboard the Scorpion, as well as the poignant stuff about their families, was educational. The theory on how the Soviets sank the sub was also interesting too, as I have said repeatedly now. I can't recall anything brand new that I learned, but there are some fascinating things in All Hands Down. Their total veracity is left to wiser hands than I, but they are still interesting to read. 

The Mark 37 Torpedo.  This is the type that was used by U.S. submarines during the mid-Cold War.  The battery it carried was prone to overheating and could potentially explode.  Other books I have read argue that it was a "hot run" of one of these Mk37 torpedoes that led to the loss of the Scorpion.

Recommendation:

My theory on All Hands Down and the sinking of the USS Scorpion is as follows: the book makes some good points, but I believe the sinking of the submarine was not caused by direct Russian aggression. The stuff in All Hands Down about Admiral Gorshkov of the Soviet Navy and his desire to "one-up" the U.S. Navy does make for a plausible argument, but I don't think the Russians would take such a risk, calculated though it might have been. The book clearly states the the Soviets had access to the U.S. codes from the spy Walker. They would know that the U.S. Navy would be capable of keeping good communication with its submarine if that sub went into a dicey situation, such as the one that the authors describe.

My belief is that the Scorpion went out to investigate the Soviet's unusual naval maneuvers, as described in the book. The Soviets may have gotten aggressive with the submarine, and something happened. Perhaps they had a collision, which seems to have been a common enough event for subs during the Cold War.

One way or another, something definitely went wrong. That is indisputable, since 99 men paid with their lives. The evidence I have read in other books about the Mark 37 torpedo and the tendency for it to "hot run" and become a dangerous hazard on board ship makes me believe that it probably had something to do with the catastrophe that followed. How much pressure from the Russians that had anything to do with this is something neither nation will provide to this day. Why would they? It was a touchy situation and probably neither side wants to talk about things that would be embarrassing to both, even to this day.

So that is my take on All Hands Down, and the theory on the sinking of the USS Scorpion. I know it isn't controversial, nor does it really explain anything. But I'm not here to do that. Take my personal thoughts on the reason for the sinking, and what I've provided from other sources on the subject, for what it is worth. As for the book... it reads well. Just because it is not confirmed and is debatable for veracity doesn't mean you should completely skip it. But I would say not to read it and think its the end-all be-all of Scorpion sinking explanations. Not by a long shot.

Learn more about All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion on Amazon.com


The parting comment:

Source: LolSnaps.com

Another nautical disaster.  I can just hear those firefighters: "How in the hell did they manage this one?  Hey Charlie!  You gotta come see this.  The dude did a Dukes of Hazard right into the deep end."