A Brief History
On April 30, 1961, the Soviet Union was proud to commission their ill-fated nuclear powered submarine, the K-19.
Digging Deeper
The Soviet Union and the western democracies (led by the United States) engaged in a Cold War arms race, with nuclear weapons and nuclear powered ships that could carry those nuclear weapons a key element in the race for military superiority. The submarine K-3 Leninsky Komsomol was commissioned in 1958 as the Soviet Union’s first nuclear submarine, but hardly the last.
Called K-19: The Widow Maker in the 2002 film, another Soviet ship was actually known informally within the Soviet Navy as Hiroshima and was, according to the BBC, “Russia’s first nuclear-armed submarine”.
Barely over 2 months from commissioning the nuclear reactor suffered a coolant leak, dangerously raising reactor temperature. With the radio system inoperative, the ship and crew were in peril.
Although Captain Zateyev had argued the reactor needed a back up cooling system, none was installed. That lack led to the dilemma the captain faced: lose the ship or have men expose themselves to radiation while cobbling together an emergency cooling system.
Eight sailors heroically volunteered to do the job, and the jury rigged cooling system was completed. Unfortunately, the 8 men on the repair team died within a month of saving the ship, and later 15 more of the crew died from radiation. Not only had the crew and parts of the ship been irradiated, but even the nuclear armed ballistic missiles were contaminated as well.
Sending short ranged radio messages for assistance from other Soviet submarines, US Navy ships monitored the distress call and offered to assist, but Captain Zateyev refused American assistance. To discourage a crew mutiny, the captain had all small arms thrown overboard, except for 5 pistols entrusted only to select officers.
The sub was towed to port by another Soviet submarine that had taken the crew aboard, and the repairs took 2 years before K-19 was back in service. The sub served until decommissioning in April of 1990. Cracked fact: The damaged reactor was just dumped into the Kara Sea, with no regard for environmental responsibility.
Troubles were not over for Hiroshima after the reactor disaster, as a collision with US Navy submarine USS Gato occurred 200 feet below the surface in 1969 and a fire claimed 28 lives in 1972. Cracked fact: A former crew member of the K-19 bought the ship in 2006 with the intention of making it a “Moscow based meeting place” for submarine sailors from around the world. No work has been done as yet to make that happen.
Question for students (and subscribers): Are nuclear powered ships safe for people and the environment? Should they be banned? Tell us what you think in the comments section below this article.
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Huchthausen, Peter. K-19 THE WIDOWMAKER: The Secret Story of The Soviet Nuclear Submarine. National Geographic, 2002.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="1980 http://www.crackedhistory.com/?p=1980">71 Comments
Nuclear powered ships are not safe. Both for the people as well as the environment. Take a look at the people that were on that ship! It killed all of them, it’s self explanatory that it is not a good idea at all!
the advantages of nuclear power in a sea vessel are too much for military powers to ignore, so the question is why did the soviets continue to put men in harm’s way without engineering safer designs? why has the united states not suffered the same types of incidents? those are smart questions.
The header of this article is absolutely incorrect !
The first Soviet nuclear submarine was the K-3 Leninsky Komsomol, which was launched in 1957 and commissioned in 1958, about 3 (!) years before the K-19… .
Didn’t know how big submarines could be so big. Such a cool piece of machinery.
Ummm… Harrison Ford has a movie about this!? Gonna have to go watch this now!!!!
The men were courageous for risking their lives in order to save the submarine.
I think it shows how brave some people can be. For such a massive piece of machinery they never gave up.
I wonder what would’ve happened if the Captain would’ve accepted help from the American Navy ships. Perhaps it would’ve helped warm up the Cold War, or maybe the Americans would’ve tried to “kick ’em when they’re down,” which would’ve been very dishonorable indeed.
Shocking that to discourage mutiny, they threw certain weapons overboard! What a terrifying environment to have to live within.
I like learning about technology such as this. Amazing what nuclear energy can do.
And none of this would have happened if they just listening to the captain in the first place…
They should have listened to the captain about installing a backup cooling system.
It is sorrowful that so many people died from the radiation.
Wonder what the outcome would have been if they listened to the captain?
This is why you always listen to what your captain says, or anyone else you take orders from.
I think nuclear based ships are horrible for the environment. They expel radiation and over time, that can be detrimental to the environment.
This article shows how important it is to listen to your boss
maybe if the back up cooling system was installed they could have avoided this event to had happen.
No surprise that the Russians made their nuclear submarine not long after we did. It was indeed a fierce competition.
I can not believe that the cracked reactor was just dumped into the ocean.
It’s sad that a total of 23 men died in repairing the ship along with radiation poisoning. Aside from that, the cracked reactor dumped into the ocean which I can’t imagine how much aquatic life it killed.
The thing that bothered me most was hearing about the cracked reactor. Being an toxicologist and chemist, I would not be surprised if effects of this still linger today in the ocean.
I wonder if radiation taints water if so then that water deposits is now contaminated and i have no idea how long it takes for radiation levels to disperse, i know that chernobyl is still unenhabitable.
Being in a submarine would be difficult. Being in a nuclear submarine would be so much worse. Something goes wrong like what happened to the K-19, there is not much you can do.
My brother was on a sub while serving in the Navy. I can only imagine a nuclear submarine, though. The fear factor would have to be ten-fold.
It was very heroic for those men to voluntarily fix the ship knowing that they would be exposed to radiation and ended up dying from it. This seems like the lives of the men were not valued as much as the ship was.
This is a sad yet heroic story. I could not imagine risking my life and health like these men.
It is sad to see that so many people died because of the radiation.
This is why nuclear war is so dangerous.
It is sad to see that so many of those who volunteered passed away.
Nuclear powered ships are definitely not safe considering the fact that the eight men on the repair team for the K-19 died within a month of service.
I think these ships should be banned. I cannot believe the dangers that have been dumped in our oceans just from military alone. Very sad so many men had to perish on that sub.
I am so surprised that they let these ships go considering how dangerous they are. So sad to see how many people pass away
It’s sad that those men died from radiation after fixing the ship, especially since the ship wrecked in the end of it all and even more men died.
I did not know just how dangerous these ships were. I also cannot believe they just dumped radioactive things into the ocean with no care or worry about what it would do to the environment. It’s crazy how fast the radiation killed these men.
So 1958 is when the first Nuclear Submarine was commissioned.
It is horrible to think that those men who volunteered to fix the the ship probably knew how dangerous it was going to be, and ultimately lost their lives because of doing trying to help.
Technology should be worked for human’s happiness. Even for weapons, we make them because we want to keep the world peaceful rather than destroy the world. The event of nuclear leakage increased pollution. People should remember it and avoid it in the future.
So horrible to hear about this nuclear technology would be used.
Nuclear weapons are a popular topic when it comes to ethics. I feel as though this article shows an example of the negatives of nuclear weapons.
Reading more about war weapons is teaching me a lot and how damaging they really can be.
It is amazing just how dangerous nuclear power can be.
It’s crazy to think how dangerous nuclear power can be, reading all of these articles has taught me a lot about how destructive was can become.
I would not want to be around these ships at all. They were so dangerous.
The 8 men that repaired the cooling system were very courageous and heroic men indeed. I can only begin to imagine the bravery needed to do what they did.
Nuclear power can be very dangerous if used in the wrong way. Power can be extremely dangerous as well.
I believe that we should continue to use nuclear power, but instead figure out how to use it more effectively and safer.
It was a very courageous move for those guys to volunteer for such a dangerous task. Then soon 15 more died from radiation.
I think nuclear work in general should just be given up. There are too many disasters related to nuclear items.
Sad to hear that all of the volunteers passed away and more men were lost due to radiation. Such a dangerous thing to be exposed to!
As with many weapons of war, once they have been made it I all but impossible to un-make them regardless of the danger they pose.
I cannot believe they just dumped that damaged reactor into the sea. I think we should not be using these types of subs.
Maybe the older subs should have been banned since they needed cooling systems, but today, the technology is better and importance to preserve life has taken first seat.
It is sad to see these unneeded deaths happen. Then to see more people died due to radiation is horrible as well.
Nuclear ships should not be allowed, as they pose a great risk to society. Even more disturbing is that there was no environmental conscience when disposing of such.
Wow. What drama. Again, the voice of reason was ignored. I am shocked that the reactor was tossed into the sea. I cant imagine how many times incidents like that have occurred. I was also surprised to see that the ship served until 1990. If that is ever made into a meeting place I will make every attempt to visit.
Submarine warfare is a scary thing. I couldn’t imagine seeing one of these things surface out of the water.
I don’t think nuclear powered ships are safe for the environment. The can cause a lot of harm to people that is not needed.
K-19 was a great movie! Nuclear reactors floating around in the ocean just seems crazy. What seems more crazy is being in the submarine floating around with a nuclear reactor.
Nuclear submarines are dangerous for sailor and the environment, but there is a need for Nuclear submarines in our military. I am shock that submarine was dumped in sea, there must be more to the story.
Unfortunately poor craftsmanship happens when a government pushes its people to create the most advanced weapons on the planet. This was one such occasion were the Russian government should have inspected the submarine more carefully before commissioning it, it would have saved at least the 23 men who died if only a backup cooling system was installed.
I am going to have to watch this K-19 movie, as this story is very interesting. I feel horrible for those who died in attempt to save others.
I am impressed by the fact that the live of this submarine was 30 years considering all of the issues that it had!
Nuclear powered ships should be banned. Exposure to radiation is no joke!
It was probably scary sitting in a huge nuclear reactor. I can understand why the people inboard died so shortly after saving the vessel.
I wouldn’t want to be in charge of that.
This whole submarine carrying nuclear weapons sound like a horrible idea to me. The fact that the captain of the sub would not accept help from the US is just stubborn and stupid of him. They should have had some type of repercussions for just dumping that reactor in the ocean.
It is a shame that men and women are sent out on deployment with equipment that is known or anticipated to not be safe. This is what happened in the Soviet Union and it happens in the US. When our men and women are sent out to protect us we should be doing everything possible to keep them safe.
It is sad that the military men and women were exposed to radiation without having the proper protection to keep them safe. Our military personnel should have the very best equipment to keep them safe, its the least our government could do for them putting their lives on the line.
I feel like anything with the name nuclear in it cannot be a good thing for people or the environment.
Wow this is completely crazy nuclear ship should absolutely NOT be allowed these would do severe damage. It’s a terrible idea to even consider anything nuclear.