The USS Scorpion was a nuclear submarine belonging to the United States Navy that began operations in the early 1960s. The submarine mysteriously disappeared on June 5, 1968. There was no war at the time, so several theories have been given of what might have happened. But, let us start at the beginning. After its testing phase, the USS Scorpion was sent to the Norfolk base where the rest of its service would be. Its main use was the development of war tactics for nuclear submarines, both chasing other ships and being pursued. All these practices were done in the Atlantic and the Bermuda area.

He was assigned a special operation in 1966 to enter Russian waters to observe Soviet military activities. The mission was a success and they managed to film the launch of a Soviet missile just before they had to flee at full speed. Thanks to this type of operations the commander of the ship and its crew gained prestige in the American Navy. The reputation of this submarine made the Scorpion models defined as the best nuclear attack submarines of the moment. For this reason, his disappearance was even more mysterious.

The fateful day of his disappearance

As it had done so many other times, the USS Scorpion went through a maintenance to get it ready at its naval base in Norfolk. In October of 1967 he went through the training tests to see if effectiveness also a control of the weapons he was carrying. He passed all the tests without any problem. The USS Scorpion could continue to be active and doing the same usual missions. In February of 1968 he was entrusted with a mission in the Mediterranean Sea, and in May they were ordered to return home. On May 21 the commander of the submarine indicated his position, being about 80 kilometers from the Azores Islands. A week later the submarine was reported missing at the American base. A search was started but without results. On June 5, the submarine and the 99 crew members were lost.

Even after having officially declared him to have disappeared, his search was continued by ships and submarines to the navy. In October of the same year the ship Mizar discovered the rest of the USS Scorpion 3 kilometers deep, about 650 kilometers from the Azores. Many more ships were sent to the area to find out what had happened.

The submarine could be found and it could be seen that it was split in two. The front, including the torpedo room and many compartments were shattered by the impact on the ocean floor. The other part of the ship also had damage and in fact the operating room had disappeared. One of the lights on the ship was in an open position, as if they had been on the surface at the time of the disaster. However, no evidence could be found of what had really happened.

What happened to the USS Scorpion?

As has been said, at the time of the sinking there were 99 crew on board. The submarine contained an important amount of equipment in matters of espionage and manuals of how to use it. Apart from this he had a modern nuclear propulsion system and two torpedoes with nuclear warheads. They thought of many things that could have happened, but none was conclusive. Some said that the USS Scorpion had been attacked by a Soviet submarine. However, it is thought that the cause could be the accidental activation of a torpedo in one of the inspections. It is thought that he was able to explode inside the torpedo for some reason. Anyway, all are theories.

The investigation was extended for another year, and a large number of experts were trying to find out what happened. Finally the case was closed and a clear cause of what happened that day was not reached. In fact, some of the theories of the experts were dismissed directly.