We were on patrol in the North Atlantic near the end of our 70 days underwater. I entered birthing of SSBN 628 and a NUC electrician asked me if I heard anything unusual. I hadn't but it usually took a while after Machinery II Lower-Level watch for my ears to recover due to the noise of the main feed pump motor noise. (Those pumps took water from a vacuum to 900psi. They were engineering marvels.) Anyway, my fellow NUC had saved the ship because he noticed that a ventilation fan for the battery had jammed. He should have received a "Saved the Ship" award from the Captain but our captain at the time had no appreciation for enlisted sailors.

The fact that the Navy promptly dropped the maintenance halfassery despite it being considered vital enough to implement in the first place makes me suspect they know pretty well what happened out there.

Hey my guy thank you for finally releasing this episode. I've done a lot of research on the USS SCORPION, I think you have done the story and mystery justice. Hard to accept "we don't know" as an answer to what happened. I'm personally convinced they know a lot more about what happened to the Scorpion, and are hiding the truth even 56 years later. Now you have to do a story on K129 and its deep-sea recovery. You didn't mention the detail in the video, but they knew the Scorpion was missing for at least 3 days, prior to its return to port, and they still let the families of those sailors show up and wait around for their planned arrival for hours before sending them home.

Imagine being one of the two men who got off that sub just a couple of days before it imploded. There would be no point in them playing the Lotto again, they used up their lifetime supply of good luck right there.

Excellent summary. Good to know the U.S. Navy learned from the tragedy, unlike the sordid blame-game tactic it tried after the 1989 explosion in U.S. Iowa turret 2.

Yas, literally just sat down with a cuppa, and the notification came through.

Many thanks for covering this incident - certainly one of the saddest yet intruiging.

love the whole atmosphere you provide. even the music is balanced with the tone of your voice which really makes for easy listening.

Again, you have done an excellent job explaining this to were a regular Construction worker, like myself can understand! You put out really entertaining and thought, provoking content. Thank you for your time and effort. It really shows.

I believe that your battery theory is the correct one. It make the most sense of the information given. Amazing video!

I find it interesting that the Scorpions name was struck from the naval registry, but the Thresher was not....

Yay! We are always stoked to see a new WS!

When the Scorpion was in the shipyards I went aboard her on a request from their sonar department. They needed help making sure the active sonar was working properly .. and we had a similar system on board my ship the USS Stormes DD780 and we also had variable depth sonar. Their active sonar was only used when coming into port or the like. I was under the impression that they were in the yards because they had a collision with a Russian sub .. they played games with the Russians and one of the chiefs I knew said that when the Scorpion went down it was probably from another collision. Another theory I guess.

I think Craven's theory might be close to correct. To Craven, the most compelling evidence was what the Scorpion did immediately before the explosions: a U-turn. At the time this is what submarine skippers did to disarm a hot running torpedo. A fail-safe device in the torpedo disarmed the warhead, so that they could get rid of the torpedo without fear of it turning around and striking the sub that launched it. The SOSUS arrays that caught the accident show that Scorpion made a sharp 180 degree turn 90 seconds before the explosions. The Naval Underwater Warfare Center in Keyport, WA had found that the batteries of the Mk-37 could overheat and catch fire in vibration testing. The Scorpion suffered from unexplained severe vibrations, part of the reason she was to be overhauled. She also had some torpedoes with batteries from the batch that failed the vibration testing. There's no way to accurately predict how a warhead that was cooked off from a fire will explode. That's not how they are designed to detonate. Perhaps the torpedo didn't detonate the way it was designed -- instead of a high order detonation, it was somewhat of a dud. That would explain why the torpedo room hatch was blown open, but not obliterated.

Correct answer. I was on USS Skipjack SSN-585 for a year in the mid 80s, so follow the story closely. All the Skipjacks were stationed in Groton CT. at the time, all retired by about 1990. Most of us believed the torpedo theory but more recent battery theory is pretty conclusive. The only water tight sections on the ship were Torpedo room and the reactor tunnel. Crews racks were lower level and aft but still same compartment as Control. The battery compartment was under crew birthing /beds. Getting battery chunks in Control would take a explosion, and there is no torpedo damage. There are active Facebook groups for Skipjack and probably the other 4, people there can probably answer questions better then I can. Fun Fact - Titanic was discovered using left over time after finding Scorpion for the Navy

Firstly, I want to appreciate that you focused on the facts and didn't give any space to baseless conspiracy theories. I didn't know about the battery explosion theory and it indeed sounds very plausible and matches the observable data, unlike all the other craziness. That's why it's such a shame there are these mistakes, like 6kt of TNT (should be 6t of TNT, probably) or that Skipjack was the first class that combined 'nuclear propulsion with advanced hull design of diesel powered submarine'. I suspect that what you wanted to say is that it featured for first time a teardrop hull, which was previously tested on experimental diesel electric USS Albacore and which was a radical departure from previous operational diesel electric submarines, but honestly, it makes no sense like this. Ultimately, it doesn't detract that much, it's just a shame.

They likely just dismissed the Battery theory which is like the primary danger for any submarine likely due to its operator error with poor safety practices and Navy brass don't like any responsibility.

There seems to be an error in the calculation of the explosive equivalence to the implosion. 6.6 kilotons TNT would be twice as much as the displacement of the vessel and comparable to a small nuke. 6,600 kilograms = 6.6 tons would be more plausible.

Unrelated, but I yearn for another video covering a drilling incident. I really miss hearing you say 'mud'. 😅 I'm sorry, but it's so charming XD

May God bless this crew. They are on Eternal patrol.

keep them coming! great job as always, so glad I found your channel

My favorite Channel Great narrator

THANK YOU FOR SUCH AN IN-DEPTH INFORMATION ABOUT THE OVERALL THE SUBMARINE ACTIONS.

Thank you for the excellent production quality and presentation.

Awesome video as always 👏

Great channel thank you for this content. I love the format no fat all meat

I cannot imagine the anguish of the families who were waiting at the dock expecting to see their loved ones again. I deeply respect submariners and I'm fascinated by the technology, but it's something I could never do.

Next up USS Thresher

Great vid as usual mate!

My favorite channel ❤️

Great video!!!!!!!

Good content man

Thank you for taking the time to continue to consistently produce longer videos. For the others that make them just long enough to monetize and not a second longer, AI will put them out of business...

Both subs that have been named scorpion, have sunk with all hands aboard. I hope we never name one that name again

Another fascinating video pal. Love the hair cut 😉👍

My understanding is that the forward compartment is not imploded indicating that it was open to sea pressure at the time of sinking. This is the main evidence pointing at a torpedo battery fire and low order cook-off detonation of the warhead. The, admittedly low quality video footage of the wreckage taken at later contamination sampling missions tends to support the theory of an open and flooded forward section. Interesting to hear the other theories. A mystery wrapped in an enigma.

6.6kt TNT? we're talking half the power of the two combat uses of nuclear weapons? I could potentially 6.6t of non nuclear energy but 6.6kt sounds incredibly high.

Very interesting, thanks.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="191">3:11</a> Is that Stockton Rush building a mini Titan sub?

Fwiw, had a lot of problems with GNB batteries used in large UPS systems in the 1990's. 😮 Thanks for the video.

Great video super interesting and packed with information! You should host a Q & A I’d love to understand your investigation writing process it’s SO GOOD! big admiration many questions I wanna ask ya about diving and your videos! Thanks for the dope video!

When a submarine at depth gets hit by a torpedo - it doesn't start to leak first and sink later. The hull instantly implodes.

Yeah, nah. I'm definitely justified in my dislike of the sea 😂

The late Phil Ochs wrote an incredibly haunting song about this, called "The Scorpion Departs But Never Returns." The refrain goes, "The Captain will not say how long we must remain, The phantom ship forever sails the seas. It's all the same." Very much worth checking out.

Thanks

'6.6 kiloton explosion' <a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="890">14:50</a> yeah, that's not correct - that's the size of a nuclear detonation

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="1194">19:54</a> Halderman : Hey Chuck, you want to you know....stop plotting and help solve this thing here ?

Ah,ve seen Car batteries explode but thats on Terra firma , inside a Sub at Depth you dont want to be there . Great vid on the Scorpion .

That sub looks mighty small to be nuclear. What were the ambient radiation levels in that thing?!

Gosh. Great research. Great details.

hy80 steel is very difficult to weld properly. incorrect welding causes cracks in the welds which could have had fatal consequences. However, failure to correct defects is the most likely cause of loss.

I've noticed it throughout your videos, and I can't quite put my finger on it. I'm thinking it must be related to how you're rendering the video on export. But the actual visual quality of the videos themselves looks off. As if it's been downscaled then upscaled again, or slightly compressed. Could also be bitrate related. It's a shot in the dark, but I'd try rendering your final cut in VP9 or AV1 video codec, rather than H. 264 Love the videos! Just trying to help out! 😄

I recall a couple years ago that a theory that's missing here in this presentation is that given the propeller shaft was located away from the main wreckage and that Scorpion just recently had some work regarding the shaft done in one of its port of calls, that possibly the loss of the shaft and the resultant flooding would have dragged Scorpion to its final demise.

Great documentary on what happened to this sub. Tragic.

Algo comment. Nice vidya.

Can you do a video on San Juan submarine? Please.

lol@19 min- pre war U.S battleships were not involved in this search- other than that a very good video

Not really pertinent to this video, but i love your channel and i have been binge watching all your videos recently, but haven't found anything about the Moby Prince disaster, one of the worst naval disasters in italian's republican history. I wanted to ask you if you could make a viedo about it, thankyou very much.

Whoa, we're on the other side of the office today, threw me there. As always, thank you for the fine work and presentation. Take care, fair winds.

Didn't Cdr. Robert Ballard spend time photographing the wreckage (along with Thresher) just prior to his search for RMS Titanic?

Rather than the sub disappearing into Soviet water mystery it's more like the answer will get someone fired mystery. Plenty of these if you've done government contracts.

What time do you consider the onset of the Cold War? Apparently not the Berlin Airlift or the Korean War.

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="893">14:53</a> kilotons sounds like a bit of a mistake.

On Eternal Patrol...😢

Your battery exposition is excellent and convincing. Your presentation of the accident reminds me of Sub Brief's video (I think it was called "47 pings") about the report on USS Thresher that got declassified a few years ago.

*Following observed evidence to form a theory, VS searching for evidence to fit an existing pet theory (aka sensationalistic Hollywood hyperbole)*

I get Government Doublespeak, but shouldn't it have been called an '*Increased* Availability Overhaul'?!

Isn’t it interesting that there are more photos of the USS Thresher wreck than the USS Scorpion wreck? Kind of makes you wonder if there is stuff the USN is hiding.

here we have a case of mechanical fault: explosive gas being created and ignited, which should have been a simple case, right? no , all crew is dead. navy knew about shortcuts on the maintenance and the problems on the sub, but send it out anyway, now, obviously the navy did not want to point fingers, so they manufactured the " we do not know what was the cause of the sinking" to avoid blaming themselves for the sinking, which was the batteries but that could extend to the rest of the problems of the ship and cause major problem for the ones involved in the command. so they gave way for conspiracies and Russian torpedo that could have been ideal to spare blame. no mystery there . but it is a case that they wanted to remain close. now you know.

Wouldn't it be possible to triangulate with two hydrophones, the submarine being the 3rd node of the triangle??? That's why we don't have 3 eyes??

If Scorpion and Thresher had already been found and documented why did they enlist the services of Dr. Ballard back in 85-86?

Yet they can here a few pounds of TNT across the other side of the planet exploding in the ocean, yet don’t hear a jet MH370 hitting the ocean at 200 miles an hour?

I love your videos, I really do. You could lower the volume of the background music though

Another video with bad audio quality?

Hot running torpedo was the best ,,they did a 180 degree turn , which is the way to stop that,,

Jeez, sounds like a modern Russian sub

your final theory is good...BUT it detracts from your video to constantly show interwar US BBs steaming in formation as if they were contemporaneous w the the events

So the Russians didn’t sink the Scorpion. Bean counters in Washington D.C. sank the Scorpion.

Russians torpedoed it while it was on the surface.

They haloed the overlords in space and said "Scotty beam me up"

😁😁😁

Yeah.... Im sure, the politicians would rather have a more expensive overhaul and 40% of the time in drydock than having to pay for a completely new submarine and bad PR on top.

"It was the 1st of its class to combine nuclear propulsion with the *advanced hull design of a diesel powered submarine* ." ...what!? does anyone proof read these, or do you just spit out what ever sounds good?

The Russians destroyed Scorpion because the thought we caused another Russian sub to be destroyed

US Navy and Government in one symbol: 🤡

742nd like 👍

oh boy that soundtrack is incredibly distracting, please go back to your scary sounds

MEGALODON destroyed the USS THRESHER, USS SCORPION, USS SAN JUAN + Russian submarine K-129

I think the Soviets sunk her.

Can you PLEASE remove the pop-up ads on your videos? They are incredibly annoying and make me not want to purchase anything from you because they are so obnoxious. You can advertise them in the beginning or end of the video or the pinned comment but please no pop-ups.

i have a mechanical engineering degree - i will be the first to admit i have no idea whether or not 6.6 kilotons of tnt equivalent is reasonable for the submarine implosion. 🤷‍♂ maybe i should take my certificate out of the picture frame and post it back to tony the tiger! 🐯

Ahhh, the USS Scorpion. One of the two lost submarines of the USA military forces and one of the deepest wreckages in the history (only surpassed by USS Samuel B. Roberts' wreckage). All this thing with the USS Scorpion started because in the same year, a submarine from the soviets sank, which lead to something close to a conspirative theory because both USA and the Soviet Union accorded to not say a word about both sinkings, not to mention the controversy with an apparent recovery operation which in reality, was a hidden operation to take the sank soviet submarine and "steal" some military secrets. The most smartest can figure out which operation I'm talking about, at first glance. It's one of the reasons why USA simply don't want to investigate what really happened with the USS Scorpion.

Live are more valuable the all the money in the world.....

How long until you repost this as a part of another vid to make more money buddy?

Couldn’t have asked for a more intriguing and terrifying story, thanks very much 🫡

Did it have a composite carbon fibre hull🤔

6.6 ton and not 6.6kiloton, 6.6kt would be a small nµke.....