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Who the SCORPION Court of Inquiry Ignored: Peter Palermo

By Bruce Rule - Nov 19, 2013

Discussed below are the bona fides of Peter Palermo whose assessment that SCORPION was lost because of a battery explosion also was ignored by the SCORPION Court of Inquiry. Bottom line: the COI dismissed conclusions drawn by
the best minds the Navy had; hard to believe, and we are still seeing the results of the COI's myopia.


Peter M. Palermo

Award: Gold Medal Award
Year: 1984
Recipient:
Mr. Peter M. Palermo
Reason:
For his significant contribution to naval engineering as set forth in the following:

For outstanding technical achievement and leadership as a naval architect and structural engineer of international reputation specializing in the demanding technology of submarine pressure hulls.

Mr. Palermo’s exceptional contributions have encompassed all facets of submarine hull structure development, design, fabrication and maintenance. His development of structural design criteria has provided the Navy with unique capabilities for producing the most structurally efficient submarine pressure hulls in the world. This capability affords the Navy the opportunity to devote a maximum portion of the ship’s displacement to mission systems. Mr. Palermo utilized these capabilities in the structural design of the Los Angeles and Trident class submarines. His exceptional technical knowledge of structural fabrication has provided a sound base for developing and implementing fabrication procedures which reduce construction costs while maintaining quality. His efforts in advancing the state of the art in the employment of high strength materials for submarine pressure hulls were vital to the introduction of HY-100 and HY-130 steels. In these programs, Mr. Palermo coordinated the original fracture testing and the final delivery of materials for required applications he also developed the design criteria unique to these materials and went on to develop a qualified industrial base. He thereby demonstrated that the capability existed in the U.S. shipbuilding industry to fabricate submarine structures using the new materials. Mr. Palermo’s numerous cont4ributions will assure the safety and superiority of future U.S. submarines.