UNSOLVED: MYSTERY OF THREE SUNKEN SUBS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP02-06341R000302420005-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: U
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 5
• Publication Date: June 1, 1975
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/08/03: CIA-RDP02-06341 R000302420005-2
THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
1 JUNE 1975
Unsolved:
WASHINGTON [UPI]-T w o
submarines, one American and
the other Russian, went three
miles down with their crews to
the bottom of oceans half a
world apart in the spring of
1968.'
Seven years later, Washing-
ton. officials apparently know
less about what happened to the
USS Scorpion, which went down
in. the Atlantic, than they do
about the Soviet submarine In
the Pacific, part of which was
raised In a secret Central In-
telligence Agency o p era It I o n
costing $135 million.
The Scorpion,. skippered by
36-year-old Comdr. F r a n c i s
Slattery and carrying 98 crew
members, nuclear - tipped
missiles, and torpedo war-
heads, was returning to Nor-
i folk, Va., after a three-month
tour.with the Sixth Fleet in the
Mediterranean.
SLATTERY'S LAST authenti-
cated message, received May
21, 1968, gave Scorpion's posi-
tion as 250 miles south of the
Azores.. He had indicated he
expected to .complete the 2,100-
mile underwater cruise about
vessel was two days' overdue at
Norfolk, the U. S. Navy report-
ed It officially missing. A task
On May 29, when the 252-foot
May 27
force of 55 ships and 35 air-
craft spent 10 fruitless days
searching . the Scorpion's
planned route between Norfolk
and its last reported position
off the Azores. The Navy then
declared the craft "presumed
lost."
But on Oct. 31, it was an-
nounced that the Mizar, a Navy
oceanographic research ship,
had located the Scorpion more
than. 10,000 feet below the surf
face about 400 miles southwest
of the Azores.,, The Mizar pre-
viously had found the wreckage
of the nuclear submarine
Thresher, which sank off Cape
Cod, Mass., in April, 1963,' with
129 men aboard in 7,800 feet of
water.
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM cam-
eras lowered on cables showed
that the Scorpion's hull was
broken in two, completely
flooded, and lying on its side
amid scattered debris.
No attempts were made to
salvage either .the Scorpion or
Thresher at the time, partly
because both were, in pieces
and because it was technologi-
cally impossible to raise them
from those depths.'
But by, last June, with - the
help of special salvage craft
secretly built by the Howard
Hughes organization,' the CIA
was able to recover part of the
diesel-powered. S o v i e It sub-
marine from. 10,000 feet, along
with some of the bodies of the
more than 80 Russians aboard.
THE NAVY now presumably
could salvage at least part of
the Scorpion and Thresher
wreckage if. it wanted to.,.The
Pentagon says it. has no plans
:to salvage either one.
- A ' Naval court of inquiry
which met for 11 weeks could
not determine any cause for
the Scorpion's loss. Among its
conclusions, the court said the
boat's nuclear reactor was not
at fault 'and there was no evi-
dence of. foul play, sabotage or
collision.
What did happen - to the $40
million Scorpion, launched .at
Groton, Conn., in December,
1959, as the fastest and most
maneuverable attack subma-'
rive yet built?
THE NAVY after a court of:
inquiry, ruled only, that the!
Thresher "most likely" sank!
.because of a piping system fail
tire that allowed flooding of they
engine room.
The last time the* Pentagon,
commented about the Scorpion
was Oct. 27, 1970.
"The investigation is com-
pleted," a spokesm9n said
then. "No further infromation
is forthcoming."
III - - ---- - - Approved For Release 2011/08/03: CIA-RDP02-06341 R000302420005-2