Nov 11, 2018 4 min read

Sandra Carman remembers vividly the moment she found out the submarine on which her oldest brother, Dennis Knapp, served had gone missing in May 1968 in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Claysville resident, then a junior at McGuffey High School, was watching television with her sister.

“The news came on and said the submarine, the USS Scorpion, was missing, and I said, ‘Isn’t that the name of Denny’s boat?'” recalled Carman.

As they woke their parents, the phone rang. It was the U.S. Navy, who informed Carman’s father the nuclear submarine, which had been scheduled to arrive at Norfolk Naval Base May 27, 1968, had failed to arrive.

Days later, the Navy officers and a chaplain arrived at the Knapp home and told the family Dennis was presumed dead.

More than five months later, the Scorpion’s wreckage was found in 10,000 feet of water about 400 miles from the Azores. No bodies were ever recovered.

Knapp was remembered Saturday in a Veterans Day ceremony in Washington organized by the USSVI Requin Base, a chapter of the U.S. Submarine Veterans Inc.

Eric Bookmiller, a member of the Requin Base, presented Carman with an American flag that had flown in honor of Knapp at places significant in the sailor’s life, including at McGuffey High School.

The brief ceremony commemorated the 50th anniversary of the disappearance of the Scorpion and its 99 crew members, and Knapp’s service.

“He was a hero. It is our club’s purpose to perpetuate the memory of lost shipmates,” said Bookmiller. “We wanted to do something to recognize his service and his ultimate sacrifice.”

Knapp also was honored at a ceremony at McGuffey High School in October.

Carman was moved by the ceremonies held in recognition of her brother.

“It’s been overwhelming. I was thrilled and humbled, and I thought what an honor for him,” said Carman.

Carman has fond memories of her brother, who was a member of McGuffey’s wrestling and chess teams. As a Boy Scout, he received the God and Country award.

Knapp, the oldest of four siblings, graduated from McGuffey High School in 1964 and enlisted in the U.S. Navy, where he was a machinist.

“He was an awesome person and the best big brother,” said Carman, noting Knapp regularly wrote letters to her. “He always had time for you. He always made you feel special. He was a really good person. I can’t remember Denny ever getting in trouble for anything.”

The Navy never provided a detailed explanation about the Scorpion’s sinking, issuing a statement that a cataclysmic event likely caused uncontrolled flooding.

Some have theorized the submarine was sunk by a Soviet torpedo in retaliation of the loss of one of their subs months earlier, Bookmiller said.

Others believe the Scorpion suffered a mechanical malfunction.

“I don’t know that we’ll ever really know what happened,” said Carman. “I don’t know that it would matter to me at this point. He’s gone.”

Carman said Knapp’s disappearance took a toll on the family, especially her mother.

“You couldn’t say his name around my mother or she’d be in tears. The saddest thing is we eventually stopped talking about Denny because it upset her so much,” said Carman. “There was never any closure for her. I think she always hoped the Russians had captured him and he was going to walk into the house someday. She always held out hope.”

The family held a memorial service for Knapp, but Carman’s mother declined to have a marker placed in Arlington National Cemetery.

Years later, Carman and her siblings had Knapp’s name etched into their parents’ gravestone.

Bookmiller said it’s important to honor Knapp and the Scorpion crew, whose story unfolded amid other historic events.

The submarine was at sea when Martin Luther King Jr. was killed, and days after the Scorpion went missing, Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated.

Carman said the recent recognition of Knapp would have been meaningful to her parents, Walter and Virginia, and her brother, Douglas, who died two years ago. Her sister, Susanne, was unable to make the trip from her Virginia home for health reasons.

“I’m super proud of Denny,” said Carman. “Even though it’s been 50 years, there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him. I wonder if I would have had nieces and nephews, and how his life would have been. You kind of think people forget, so this has meant a lot. He loved being on the sub, and he was very proud of what he did.”