Real Submarine Technology & History Q&A

[sergei]

Originally Posted by DaveyJ576

The Scorpion carried Mk-37 torpedoes on her last voyage . . . Early versions of this weapon (like the ones carried by Scorpion) had a defect in the battery design that could lead to overheating of the battery . . . If the battery got hot enough, tests showed that it could trigger a low-order (partial) detonation of the warhead

I've read a few books where this was posited as the most likely explanation for the loss of the Scorpion.