8. The emergence of nuclear submarines led to casualties on both sides
In 1954 the United States Navy commissioned the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, USS Nautilus. The Soviets weren’t far behind, bringing to sea a nuclear-powered submarine in 1958. By then the United States had identified several roles for its growing submarine fleet. They included the deployment of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles as a strategic deterrent (part of MAD), anti-submarine warfare, and espionage. The United States Navy made nuclear submarines a priority, and during the 1950s and ensuing decades American shipyards at Groton, Connecticut, Newport News, Virginia, Portsmouth, New Hampshire and other sites built the new and powerful ships. The Soviets matched them in pace. British and French shipyards joined in the submarine race, less well-known than the Space Race, but just as critical to the Cold War. The submarine race led to the loss of men and materiel in several incidents, affecting both sides before the Cold War ended.
Accidents during construction and at sea plagued the submarine forces of the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the French Republic during the Cold War. In the case of the Soviet Union, a conventionally powered (diesel-electric) submarine which nonetheless carried nuclear missiles was lost at sea with all hands taken out. The Soviets suffered at least three accidents aboard nuclear submarines which led to loss of life and significant further casualties caused by release of radiation prior to 1962. One such submarine, designated K-19 by the Soviets, earned the nickname “Hiroshima” by the men who crewed it. In the west, it became known as the Widowmaker. The submarine was hastily constructed by the Soviets, driven by the need to keep up with the American shipyards’ rate of production of new and more powerful submarines. The haste was fatal to many.
