The Arkansas Inland Maritime Museum hosts a memorial dedicated to the last United States Navy submarine lost.
USS Scorpion (SSN 589), a Skipjack-class nuclear powered submarine, was commissioned on July 29, 1960. On May 27, 1968, the submarine was presumed lost since it failed to arrive in port on Memorial Day from a three month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea. The United States Navy announced that the wreckage of the submarine was found 400 miles south of the Azores Islands in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean with all 99 crew members still onboard on October 30, 1968.
This memorial is dedicated to Richard Schaffer and the other 98 submarine sailors who remain on “Eternal Patrol.” Richard Schaffer was a graduate of Sylvan Hills High School in Sherwood, Arkansas. Schaffer’s family designed, funded, and created the memorial. Bob Nesbit of Flooring Consultants Inc. etched USS Scorpion’s insignia onto concrete along with a dedication message.
The following 99 men were aboard USS Scorpion (SSN 589) when the submarine was lost:
| Keith Alexander Martin Allen | Steven Dean Gleason | Earl Lester Ray, Jr. |
| Thomas Edward Amtower | William Clarke Harwi | Jorge Luis Santana |
| George Gile Annable | Michael Edward Henry | Lynn Thompson Saville |
| Joseph Anthony Baar, Jr. | Larry Leroy Hess | Richard George Schaffer |
| Michael Jon Bailey | Richard Curtis Hogeland | William Newman Schoonover |
| Walter William Bishop | John Richard Houge | Phillip Allan Seifert |
| Michael Reid Blake | Ralph Robert Huber | Francis Atwood Slattery |
| Robert Harold Blocker | Harry David Huckelberry | George Elmer Smith, Jr. |
| Kenneth Ray Brocker | John Frank Johnson | Laughton Douglas Smith |
| James Kenneth Brueggeman | Robert Johnson | Robert Bernard Smith |
| Robert Eugene Bryan | Steven Leroy Johnson | Harold Robert Snapp, Jr. |
| John Patrick Burke | Julius Johnston, III | Daniel Peter Stephens |
| Daniel Paul Burns, Jr. | Patrick Charles Kahanek | Joel Candler Stephens |
| Ronald Lee Byers | Donald Terry Karmasek, Sr. | David Burton Stone |
| Duglas Leroy Campbell | Richard Allen Kerntke, Sr. | John Phillip Sturgill |
| Samuel J. Cardullo | Rodney Joseph Kipp | Richard Norman Summers |
| Francis King Carey, II | Dennis Charles Knapp | John Driscoll Sweeney, Jr. |
| Gary James Carpenter | Charles Lee Lamberth | John Charles Sweet |
| Robert Lee Chandler | Max Franklin Lanier | James Frank Tindol, III |
| Mark Helton Christiansen | John Weichert Livingston | Johnny Gerald Veerhusen |
| Romeo S. Constantino | David Bennett Lloyd | Robert Paul Violetti |
| Robert James Cowan | Kenneth Robert Martin | Ronald James Voss |
| Joseph Cross | Frank Patsy Mazzuchi | John Michael Wallace |
| Garlin Ray Denney | Michael Lee McGuire | Joel Kurt Watkins |
| Michael Edward Dunn | Steven Charles Miksad | Robert Westley Watson |
| Richard Philip Engelhart | Joseph Francis Miller, Jr. | James Edwin Webb |
| George Patrick Farrin | Cecil Frederick Mobley | Leo William Weinbeck |
| William Ralph Fennick | Raymond Dale Morrison | James Mitchell Wells |
| Robert Walter Flesch | Michael Anthony Odening | Ronald Richard Williams |
| Vernon Mark Foli | Daniel Christopher Petersen | Robert Alan Willis |
| James Walter Forrester, Jr. | Dennis Paul Pferrer | Virgil Alexander Wright, III |
| Ronald Anthony Frank | Gerald Stanley Pospisil | Donald Howard Yarbrough |
| Michael David Gibson | Donald Richard Powell | Clarence Otto Young, Jr. |