Product Description
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.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.5 based on 43 reviews)

Marginal, at best

All Hands Down reads easily, and is well written. The stories about the lives of the sailors are itneresting and engaging.

On the subject of what actually happened to the Scorpion, however, the book fails to makes its case, and does so rather badly. It provides no real evidence beyond hearsay and conjecture. The basic argument is to dismiss any explanation other than the posited one as being implausible, and then concluding that their even MORE implausible conclusion is the only possible remaining explanation.

Well, US subs don't sink that often, so no matter what the actual explanation might be, it will be implausible. Certainly the basic story here about hyper aggressive Soviets does not really convince. Not only did the Soviets destroy the Scorpion, they did so intentionally with forethought, and all in retaliation for the presumed US destruction of one of their own boats, even though they never really knew if in fact a US sub was involved in the destruction of K-129? Huh?

Can you imagine all the things that could possibly go wrong with this Soviet plan? Like, everything? What if the torp doesn't destroy Scorpion? What if Scorpion evades? What if Scorpion gets out a distress call?

the author uses a standard construct of fiction here, where the antagonist is, at the same time, incredibly dense (insanely aggressive and irrationally emotional in the reaction to the loss of K-129) and also incredibly competent and capable (setting up an elaborate trap for Scorpion, executing it perfectly without anything going wrong, and then covering it up perfectly for decades). The real world is never so tidy.

Overall, the book was very disappointing.
January 02, 2009

All Hands Down

This is a horrifying and fantastically well researched tale of the Cold War. While it primarily details how the Soviets secretly sank a US submarine in May 1968, it also ties in how the despicable and infamous spy John Walker was directly responsible for the capture of the USS Pueblo in January 1968 and the sinking of the USS Scorpion in May of the same year. This traitor continued to spy for the Soviets for almost 20 years until he was caught in 1985. He still feels he did no wrong. The Soviets claim (off the record) that the sinking of the Scorpion was in retaliation of the US sinking the Soviet sub K-129, which actually sank on its own, apparently while trying to launch a nuclear attack on Hawaii. (see "Red Star Rogue" for that horrific story. This is the sub that Howard Hughes raised with his ship, "Glomar Explorer")

Only some of this tale has been declassified, and the families have still not formally been told the real reason for the loss of the sub. Interestingly, Bob Ballard of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, famous for finding the Titanic, was also the one who verified the location of the sub and photographed the damage to it. He did this just prior to finding the Titanic. In fact, the Titanic mission was a *cover story* for finding the Scorpion! Turns out ol' Bob had been working for the CIA for a couple decades!

According to the book, because President Johnson didn't take any action against the North Koreans for capturing the Pueblo (a blatant act of war), he knew the public would insist on military action if it was revealed that the Soviets attacked & sank one of our subs. At the same time, if the public found that a rogue element of the Soviet Union had tried to launch nuclear missiles at Hawaii just 2 months before the Scorpion sinking, then all-out war would be unavoidable. It was decided by both governments to pretend that neither event ever happened!

I've also read "Red Star Rogue" and definitely recommend that incredible and also horrifying story. People think the Cuban Missile Crisis was perhaps the closest we got to actual war during the Cold War. Not even close. It appears that the K-129 actually *launched* a nuclear missile. We have no idea what caused it to detonate while still in the tube, sinking the sub, but it's the greatest stroke of luck the USA has ever had. I'd also recommend "Blind's Man Bluff" for more on submarines during the Cold War.
October 11, 2008

Too many leaps of faith

As a former Cold War Submariner, I have some pretty good background on submarines and their operations. My submarine service and familiarity with 'the boats' is what piqued my interest in this book.

This book simply makes too many leaps of faith to be considered seriously. I note that some other reviews have stated that this book was "well researched"... and yet my copy of the book contains no bibliography. Have other readers of this book noticed this rather glaring omission, or is my copy the only one with the bibliography left out?

There are too many shadowy characters in this book as far as I am concerned. Most notably for me, the supposed two sailors that were said to have been on another submarine operating in that same area (that's pretty curious!) and yet they took no note or interest in an underwater explosion? And the shadowy characters get even more shadowy when the reader is told that the sailors are told to keep quiet 'or else'? This is the stuff of fiction/action dramas - more along the lines of 'Red October' (movie version) if you ask me.

As a former submariner, I couldn't possibly recommend this book as a serious look at what may have happened to USS Scorpion. There are just too many leaps of faith to be very credible.
August 28, 2008

Do Not Bother!!!!!

This book simply does not add a single item of fact about this incident that has been reported in numerous other accounts. It was a most frustrating "read". I really do not like books that speculate on what those in the story "might have done", or, "most likely would have done" etc. I do not understand the reason this book was written, other than to make money for the authors, due to the very valid and ongoing interest in this most curious incident. Waste of time.
July 29, 2008

not very credible

i did not find this book credible. he has some hearsay type evidence from interviews or from someone who overheard something. the attack from the helicopter is basically a theory. if he had a credible living witness that would back his theory it might be different.

there are many things that can go wrong on a submarine and it looks like the crew had some time to don a life vest. i would suggest flooding in the forward torpedo room would be more plausible (possibly the Mk 37 theory).
i would suggest that the navy release the photos of the torpedo room (edit out any classified gauges,etc.
July 27, 2008

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Scorpion Down: Sunk by the Soviets, Buried by the Pentagon: The Untold Story of the USS Scorpion
by Ed Offley

Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S.
by Kenneth Sewell, Clint Richmond

Escape from the Deep: A Legendary Submarine and Her Courageous Crew
by Alex Kershaw

Silent Steel: The Mysterious Death of the Nuclear Attack Sub USS Scorpion
by Stephen Johnson

The Death of the USS Thresher: The Story Behind History's Deadliest Submarine Disaster
by Norman Polmar