AUDIOBOOK
About
Soon after a junior officer at submarine communication sold secrets to the Soviets enabling them to decipher coded American submarine communications, a Soviet missile sub on a mission near Hawaii sank with all hands in February 1968. Two weeks later, a spy reported that a damaged U.S. submarine had arrived in Japan. Soviet files reveal and interviews confirm that high Soviet officials believed it had deliberately sunk their vessel. In revenge, they torpedoed the Scorpion on May 27, killing ninety-nine men. This engrossing overview of American and Soviet submarine operations includes capsule biographies of the Scorpion's captain and many of its crew and families.
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Reviews
"Malcolm Hillgartner tells the story in a crisp, almost military, style, except when he talks about the submariners' families and their suffering. The author makes painfully clear the reasons they could not be told the true story without compromising national security. Hillgartner walks a fine line between factual recitation of the scattered records of the submarine's disappearance and depicting t
AudioFile
"[A] convincing argument…few will be able to resist the juicy details offered about this half-forgotten disaster and its aftermath…A satisfying historical whodunit, redolent with Cold War paranoia and tragedy."
Kirkus Reviews
"All Hands Down highlights a truth no less relevant today: international incidents are in good part constructions mutually agreed upon after the event."
Publishers Weekly