Johnson painstakingly details the last 18 months of the Cold War–era fast-attack nuclear submarine U.S.S. Scorpion
, which disappeared with all hands on May 22, 1968, in the mid-Atlantic. Commissioned in 1960, the Scorpion
tested nuclear sub warfare tactics in exercises around the world until its final voyage following four months of duty with the Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean. When the ship didn't emerge at its homeport of Norfolk, Va., on its scheduled arrival date of May 27, 1968, the navy launched its largest search in U.S. naval history and reported the ship and its 99 crewmen officially dead on June 5. Four months later, the navy located pieces of the ship's hull in more than 10,000 feet of water. Further investigations came to no definitive conclusion about what caused the demise of the Scorpion
. Was it a Soviet attack? Did one of the Scorpion
's torpedoes accidentally detonate? Did its hull crack due to poor maintenance? Did its main storage battery explode? Mining navy documents and first-person testimony, Johnson's deeply researched effort explores these and other possible explanations, but concludes that the ship's end will remain an enigma. (Jan.)
