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

All Hands Down: The True Story of the Soviet Attack on the USS Scorpion by Kenneth Sewell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Detailed in research in taut in the telling, this is a breath-taking, further revelation of how close 1968 came to seeing The Cold War turn hot and nuclear.

Diesel-electric powered submarine of the Soviet Pacific Fleet, K-129 sank on 8 March 1968. It was one of four mysterious submarine disappearances in 1968; the others being the Israeli submarine INS Dakar, the French submarine Minerve (S647) and the US submarine USS Scorpion (SSN-589). This book is about how the Scorpion was lost on 22 May 1968, with 99 crewmen dying in the incident. We have since learned K-129 went rogue ( Red Star Rogue, by the same author ) and how close was that to nuclear conflict? At the time, the Soviets did not think it anything other than a loss to American aggress and begin to plot revenge. Part 1 was getting navy crypto gear and manuals off the USS Pueblo in an operation where Russia backed North Korea. Part 2 fell into the Soviet lap when spy John Walker as a walk part of his family spy ring provided them with the keylists and manuals to listen in crucial navy communications. This allowed them to be on top of the Scorpion and torpedo it.

One other thing that stuck out to me was how the bereaved families lost resources and roofs in how they were rather callously handled by the Navy once the sub was declared lost.

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