This book picks apart in detail the methods that the United States Submarine Command used to conceal the truth about what happened to the Scorpion and her crew by misinformation, simple turn of phrase and blatant lies. What I like is that the author never makes the judgement that the Navy acted in a malicious manner but rather goes to great lengths to explain the truth about what happened. The Navy is shown to have protected this secret to help prevent an escalation between the former Soviet Union and the United States during the height of the cold war. Intrigue, spies and mortal danger are all present in this book and you will not only get the truth about the incident but you will learn about many other events during the rather “warm” war between the U.S. and Soviet submarine fleets during that period. A lot of this book fits in with stories I had read in one publication or another when I was younger. One parallel to what I already knew that Offley gives, points out that the Russian submariners were more afraid of the death due to the bad design and implementation of their own submarines than they were at the hands of their American counterparts.
The only downside to this book is that at times his documentation and historical information is so detailed that it bogs down the reader. However, the information and uncovering of the facts is intriguing enough to get the reader through these rough patches to get to the next revelation. This is a great book and it demonstrates the heroism of anyone that has served in their countries’ submarine fleet and the secrets that they guard to protect everyone; even when they are not on their boats.