Seven days later, when Scorpion failed to arrive at Norfolk, the US Navy declared the nuclear submarine "missing and presumed lost." Searches, which eventually consisted of more than 50 ships and subs and dozens of aircraft, were conducted immediately. This was the last message Scorpion would ever send. Scorpion's radioman informed the Communication Station that the submarine was homeward bound, approximately 250 miles southwest of Portugal's Azores Islands, and that they expected to arrive at Naval Station Norfolk at 1300 hours on the 27th of May. The 99 men onboard were on their way home from a classified mission in the Mediterranean facing Soviet submarines. In May 1968, at the height of the Cold War, Scorpion disappears in the Atlantic Ocean. USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was one of a number of Skipjack-class nuclear submarines that entered service in the years between 19. They decide to keep the disaster secret, unaware that the US Navy has detected the submarine's sinking. But the wreckage of the K-129 eluded the Soviet searchers, who eventually gave up their mission and listed the submarine as missing at sea. So something had gone wrong and a search was launched. Nothing more was heard by the Russian base. Commanded by Vladimir Ivanovich Kobzar, a captain first rank with an unblemished record, the sub had conducted two successful 70-day patrols in the north Pacific in 1967 before leaving on a new mission in February 1968, which was scheduled to end in May.Īfter conducting dive tests and reporting that all was well, the K-129 missed an expected contact when it crossed the 180th meridian, the dividing line marking its patrol area. The K-129 was a diesel-electric Project 629 submarine, capable of carrying ballistic missiles, based at Kamchatka with the Soviet Pacific Fleet. It was a cat-and-mouse game beneath the ocean waves. K-129 was on a secret mission in the Pacific, trying avoid America's network of underwater listening posts. In March 1968, the Soviet submarine K-129, armed with 3 nuclear missiles, sanks after a mysterious explosion on board. NUCLEAR SHARKS tells the story of the men who gave their lives to a hidden war in the silent deep.ĬineNova Production in Association with The Discovery Channel,Canal+,History Television and TFO-TVOntario In Washington, the Navy confesses the crucial importance of the nuclear submarine in the effort to puncture the Iron Curtain. 'Nuclear Sharks' takes us into the post-Communist Kremlin, where men who once helped define the nuclear submarine conflict can now freely speak about the Soviet strategy. 'Nuclear Sharks' is a chronicle of chilling adventures which, as Cold War secrets are revealed, can only now be told. Such incidents remained closely guarded military secrets both on the American and the Soviet sides. This gripping series reveals the stories of submarines sunk to the bottom, their nuclear power plants in meltdown. ![]() By the early 1950's, the United States and the Soviet Union are entrenched in a harrowing conflict many fear will bring an end to humanity. A war of technological advancement, with lethal consequences. A war about strategy and world domination. ![]() 'Nuclear Sharks' explores the silent, stealthy symbol of the Cold War. Submarines faced submarines in close-quarter encounters which could have triggered major conflicts on many occasions. History Documentary hosted by Kenneth Welsh,įor forty years, the Cold War was also waged beneath the sea between the United States and the USSR.
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