Synopses & Reviews
Forty years ago, in May 1968, the submarine USS
Scorpion sank in mysterious circumstances with a loss of ninety-nine lives. The tragedy occurred during the height of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and it followed by only weeks the sinking of a Soviet sub near Hawaii. Now in
All Hands Down, drawing on hundreds of hours of interviews, many with exclusive sources in the naval and intelligence communities, as well as recently declassified United States and Soviet intelligence files, Kenneth Sewell and Jerome Preisler explain what really happened to
Scorpion. In January 1968, a U.S. intelligence ship, USS Pueblo, was seized by North Korea. Among other items, the North Koreans confiscated a valuable cryptographic unit that was capable of deciphering the Navy's top-secret codes. Unknown to the Navy, a traitor named John Walker had begun supplying the Navy's codes to the KGB. Once the KGB acquired the crypto unit from the North Koreans, the Russians were able to read highly classified naval communications.
In March, a Soviet sub, K-129, mysteriously sank near Hawaii, hundreds of miles from its normal station in the Pacific. Soviet naval leaders mistakenly believed that a U.S. submarine was to blame for the loss, and they planned revenge. A trap was set: several Soviet vessels were gathered in the Atlantic, acting suspiciously. It would be only a matter of time before a U.S. sub was sent to investigate. That sub was Scorpion. Using the top-secret codes and the deciphering machine, the Soviets could intercept and decode communication between the Navy and Scorpion, the final element in carrying out the planned attack.
All Hands Down shows how the Soviet plan was executed and explains why the truth of the attack has been officially denied for forty years. Sewell and Preisler debunk various official explanations for the tragedy and bring to life the personal stories of some of the men who were lost when Scorpion went to the bottom. This true story, finally told after exhaustive research, is more exciting than any novel.
Review
"Scrupulously researched, compulsively readable,
All Hands Down plunges us back to a dark era of surprise attacks against the United States by devious foreign enemies; of the world at the brink of ruinous warfare; of official cover-up. Fortunately, that era is well in the past. Wait a minute..."
-- Ron Powers, coauthor, Flags of Our Fathers; Last Flag Down; and The Man Who Flew the Memphis Belle
Synopsis
Kenneth R. Sewell is a nuclear engineer and a U.S. Navy veteran who spent five years aboard the USS Parche, a fast attack submarine that was the Navy's most decorated ship. Parche conducted a number of special operations, some of which were revealed in Blind Man's Bluff. Since leaving the Navy, Mr. Sewell has held both Department of Defense and Department of Energy security clearances. In researching Red Star Rogue, Mr. Sewell had access to recently declassified intelligence files in the U.S. and Soviet military archives that were opened after 1991, among other sources. A New York Times bestseller, Red Star Rogue has been optioned for film by Warner Brothers.
Synopsis
From the author of Red Star Rogue, the controversial account of the destruction of the USS Scorpion, the nuclear submarine that sank with ninety-nine crewmen aboard in 1968—an event that was officially attributed to accident.
The tragedy of the USS Scorpion—and the lingering mystery of what caused it to sink in 10,000 feet of water on the eastern edge of the Sargasso Sea—has been widely written about. All Hands Down shows how the Soviet plot to exact revenge for the loss of a Russian sub was executed and explains why the truth of the attack has been officially denied for forty years. Sewell and Preisler debunk various official explanations for the tragedy and bring to life the personal stories of some of the men who were lost when Scorpion went to the bottom.
About the Author
Kenneth R. Sewell is a nuclear engineer and a U.S. Navy veteran who spent five years aboard the USS Parche, a fast attack submarine that was the Navy's most decorated ship. Parche conducted a number of special operations, some of which were revealed in Blind Man's Bluff. Since leaving the Navy, Mr. Sewell has held both Department of Defense and Department of Energy security clearances. In researching Red Star Rogue, Mr. Sewell had access to recently declassified intelligence files in the U.S. and Soviet military archives that were opened after 1991, among other sources. A New York Times bestseller, Red Star Rogue has been optioned for film by Warner Brothers. Jerome Preisler is the author of more than twenty books, including the bestselling Tom Clancy's Power Plays series. He is also a baseball commentator whose work appears on the New York Yankees' YES Network Online.
Table of Contents
Prologue: Abyss
1. Gorshkov's Gun
2. Off to Poke the Bear
3. Baited
4. Pier 22
5. Brandywine
6. Lost
7. Trapped and Killed
8. Boat's Wake
Epilogue
Authors' Note
Acknowledgments
Notes
Index