The loss of the nuclear submarines USS Scorpion (SSN-589) on Memorial Day, May 27, 1968, has been commemorated by an American admiral as “one of the greatest unsolved sea mysteries of our era.” To this day, the U.S. Navy officially describes it as an inexplicable accident. After the sub failed to return to port at Northfolk Naval Station following a routine three-month Mediterranean deployment, a frantic search ensued (the largest U.S. naval operation since the Cuban Missile Crisis). Nine days later the Navy announced that the submarine and the ninety-nine crewmen on board were presumed lost.
