USS Scorpion, a 3500-ton Skipjack class nuclear-powered attack submarine built at Groton, Connecticut, was commissioned in July 1960. Assigned to the Atlantic Fleet, she took part in the development of contemporary submarine warfare tactics and made periodic deployments to the Mediterranean Sea and other areas where the presence of a fast and stealthy submarine would be beneficial.
Scorpion began another Mediterranean cruise in February 1968. The following May, while homeward bound from that tour, she was lost with her entire crew some 400 miles southwest of the Azores. In late October 1968, her remains were found on the sea floor over 10,000 feet below the surface by a towed deep-submergence vehicle deployed from USNS Mizar (T-AGOR-11). Photographs taken then and later showed that her hull had suffered fatal damage while she was running submerged and that even more severe damage occurred as she sank. The cause of the initial damage continues to generate controversy more than three decades later.
This page features or provides links to all our views of USS Scorpion.
For additional pictorial coverage of USS Scorpion, see:
For a more complete history of USS Scorpion, see the "Dictionary of American Naval Fighting Ships" entry:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Click on the small photograph to prompt a larger view of the same image.
In addition to the images presented above, the National Archives appears to hold several other views of USS Scorpion (SSN-589), taken in 1960. The following list features these images.
The images listed below are NOT in
the Naval Historical Center's collections.
DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our
page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions".
USS Scorpion (SSN-589) off New London, Connecticut, 22 August 1960. Starboard bow aerial view. USS Scorpion (SSN-589) off New London, Connecticut, 22 August 1960. Port stern aerial view. USS Scorpion (SSN-589) off New London, Connecticut, 22 August 1960. Port stern surface (or low aerial) view. USS Scorpion (SSN-589) off New London, Connecticut, 22 August 1960. Port broadside aerial view. USS Scorpion (SSN-589) off New London, Connecticut, 22 August 1960. Bow-on surface (or low aerial) view. USS Scorpion (SSN-589) off New London, Connecticut, 22 August 1960. Bow-on aerial view. USS Scorpion (SSN-589) off New London, Connecticut, 22 August 1960. Stern-on surface (or low aerial) view.
The images listed in this box are NOT in the Naval Historical Center's collections. DO NOT try to obtain them using the procedures described in our page "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions". |
For additional pictorial coverage of USS Scorpion, see:
If you want higher resolution reproductions than the digital images presented here, see: "How to Obtain Photographic Reproductions." |
Page made 30 January 2000
Link added 8 April 2001