All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on USS Scorpion
(Libby/OverDrive eAudiobook)

This third recent book on the sinking of a U.S. nuclear attack submarine in 1968 attempts to reconstruct both the tragedy and the events leading up to it. While Stephen Johnson's Silent Steel failed to identify a cause for the loss of the boat and its 99-man crew, Ed Offley's Scorpion Down broke through U.S. Navy silence and convincingly postulated that the Scorpion was sunk deliberately by a Soviet sub in retaliation for the loss of a Soviet sub the month before and that the navy knew this and concealed it to prevent a general naval war from breaking out. Sewell (coauthor with Clint Richmond, Red Star Rogue ) and Preisler ("Tom Clancy's Power Plays" series) bring further information: that Robert Ballard of Titanic deep-sea exploration fame was secretly involved in locating and exploring the Scorpion wreck while working at Woods Hole, using the Titanic as a cover story. They also focus on the John Walker spy case (naval officer Walker was found to have spied for the Soviets from 1968 to the mid-1980s) and the highly damaging intelligence that Walker provided to his Soviet handlers. The authors interweave several detailed narratives of crewmen and their families. The overall sensational tone and the use of reconstructed events and conversations make for a lively narrative, but readers will be better served by Offley's book. Libraries with an interest in naval affairs will no doubt want both books.—Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS

Controversy has steadily shadowed the 1968 sinking of the U.S. nuclear submarine Scorpion . The navy's official version of accidental sinking on a routine mission was challenged by allegations that the Scorpion was in fact torpedoed while shadowing a Soviet task force. Further rumors indict the spy John Walker for providing confidential codes to the Soviets, enabling them to track the submarine. Yet another account purports that the Soviets destroyed the Scorpion in retaliation for the sinking of one of their own subs. The two navies eventually called a truce rather than risk further disrupting relations. Sewell, a submarine veteran, and Preisler, a writer of techno-thrillers, add little new evidence in their version of the story; their new data is unfailingly familiar and they never succeed in making a persuasive case for the conspiracy and cover-up they claim occurred. Instead, Sewell and Preisler devote more time to anecdotes about the Scorpion 's crew and their families and little vignettes of the routines on board a nuclear sub. What is undeniably useful is the book's demonstration of the high numbers of accidents between ships and aircrafts that were accepted as routine during much of the Cold War. All Hands Down highlights a truth no less relevant today: international incidents are in good part constructions mutually agreed upon after the event. (Apr.)