USS Scorpion (SSN-589)

USS Scorpion (SSN-589)
United States Navy · Public domain · source
Ship name	USS Scorpion (SSN-589)
Ship class	Permit-class submarine
Ship builder	Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics
Ship laid down	5 January 1958
Ship launched	29 March 1960
Ship commissioned	29 July 1960
Ship decommissioned	5 May 1968 (lost)
Ship displacement	3,640 long tons surfaced; 3,800 long tons submerged
Ship length	252 ft
Ship beam	31 ft
Ship propulsion	One S5W nuclear reactor; steam turbines; single shaft
Ship speed	20+ knots submerged (classified)
Ship complement	Officers and enlisted (approx. 99)

USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was a Permit-class nuclear-powered attack submarine of the United States Navy commissioned in 1960. She conducted Cold War patrols in the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea before being lost with all hands in May 1968. The sinking prompted multiple investigations involving the Navy and international agencies and remains one of the worst submarine disasters in United States history.

Design and construction

Scorpion was laid down by the Electric Boat Company yard in Groton, Connecticut under contract to General Dynamics and launched in 1960. As a Permit-class boat, she was part of a progression from the Skipjack-class submarine design and featured the S5W pressurized water reactor developed by Westinghouse Electric Corporation engineers working with the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory. Her hull form and control systems reflected lessons from the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), USS Skate (SSN-578), and contemporary Royal Navy developments influenced by designers who compared performance with HMS Dreadnought (S101). Scorpion’s sonar suite, fire-control systems, and torpedo payload were integrated with equipment from General Electric and the Naval Ordnance Laboratory, and her construction benefited from post-Korean War submarine research funded by the Department of Defense.

Operational history

After commissioning, Scorpion joined the Submarine Force, U.S. Atlantic Fleet for training, anti-submarine warfare (ASW) exercises, and deployments to the Mediterranean Sea in support of the Sixth Fleet. Her patrols visited ports including Rota, Spain, Gibraltar, Naples, and La Maddalena, and she participated in multinational exercises with units of the Royal Navy, French Navy, and NATO task forces. Scorpion conducted classified surveillance missions during heightened tensions related to the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Dominican Civil War, and regional crises tied to Soviet Navy deployments and Project Azorian-era oceanographic interest. Her commanding officers and crews worked alongside squadrons such as Submarine Squadron 4 and training institutions including Naval Submarine School and Naval Reactors.

Loss and investigation

Scorpion departed Rota, Spain in April 1968 and was ordered to transit the Mediterranean Sea and return to Norfolk, Virginia via the Atlantic Ocean. On 22 May 1968 she failed to arrive and was declared overdue after unsuccessful communications with Submarine Force Atlantic headquarters and the Sixth Fleet. Search efforts were initiated by Commander, Submarine Force Atlantic and assets from the United States Atlantic Fleet including aircraft carriers, destroyers, P-3 Orion maritime patrol aircraft, and support from NATO partners such as Portuguese Navy and Spanish Navy vessels. A deep‑ocean acoustic analysis by the United States Navy Hydrographic Office and civilian institutions detected a large, impulsive event on 22 May consistent with an implosion; this finding was corroborated by analysts at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and scientists associated with Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Navy convened a Court of Inquiry and other investigative bodies, reviewed testimony from officers who served on Scorpion, and examined service records, maintenance logs, torpedo inventories, and reactor records. Hypotheses for loss included torpedo malfunction, battery explosion, hull failure, operational accident, and foreign action involving vessels of the Soviet Union; however, definitive attribution remained contested among naval historians, Congress, and independent researchers such as Norman Polmar and A. D. Baker III.

Search, recovery, and salvage efforts

After acoustic signals suggested a catastrophic event, oceanographic survey ships including USNS Mizar and RV Atlantis and deep-submergence vehicles like Bathyscaphe Trieste II and remotely operated vehicles from Lockheed contractors were mobilized. In 1968 and again in 1969 the United States Navy conducted bathymetric mapping and deep-tow photographic operations, while civilian teams from Texas A&M University and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution contributed sonar imagery. In 1969 the wreck of Scorpion was located approximately 400 nautical miles southwest of Ponta Delgada, Azores on the seafloor at depths exceeding 9,800 feet; the site was surveyed using submersibles and imaging gear developed from programs at WHOI and Scripps. Portions of the hull were photographed, confirming implosion-like collapse and displacement of the sail and bow. No large-scale salvage of the hull was attempted due to depth, cost, and treaty considerations codified under United Nations maritime practice and Law of the Sea principles; however, key artifacts and acoustic data were analyzed by laboratories at Naval Research Laboratory and the Bureau of Ships to inform safety recommendations.

Legacy and memorials

The loss of Scorpion had enduring effects on submarine design, safety protocols, and public policy. Findings influenced maintenance practices at Electric Boat, reactor oversight by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover’s offices, and torpedo reliability programs managed by the Naval Underwater Systems Center. Scorpion’s sinking prompted commemorations at memorials including the United States Submarine Veterans National Memorial, the Maine Submarine Museum exhibits, and plaques at Naval Station Norfolk and the Submarine Force Museum. Families of the lost crew formed support organizations that worked with Congress on survivor benefits and legislation affecting Department of Defense survivor policy. The wreck site remains a war grave, protected by United States naval directives and recognized by international maritime organizations. Scorpion’s story has been recounted in works by historians and authors such as Ernest F. Hollings, James A. Michener (contextual Cold War narrative), Norman Polmar, and documentary features aired by PBS and National Geographic that examine Cold War submarine operations, ocean engineering, and deep-sea search technology.

Category:United States Navy submarines lost with all hands Category:Cold War submarines of the United States Navy