The Soviet submarine K-129, armed with 3 nuclear missiles, sank after a mysterious explosion on board. K-129 was on a secret mission in the Pacific, trying avoid America's network of underwater listening posts. It was a cat-and-mouse game beneath the ocean waves.

USS Scorpion (SSN-589) was one of a number of Skipjack-class nuclear submarines that entered service in the years between 1958 and 1961. In May 1968, at the height of the Cold War, Scorpion disappears in the Atlantic Ocean. The 99 men onboard were on their way home from a classified mission in the Mediterranean facing Soviet submarines.

For years the Soviet Navy sent nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarines to patrol off the American coast. Their missiles took aim at Washington, New York, and other major American cities.