Nuclear Submarines

Nuclear power is used in all large size submarines in the United States Navy and other countries. This is quite expensive because nuclear reactors are very costly. This is why the smaller submarines still use diesel-electric systems. Nuclear power allows submarines to stay submerged for months at a time.

The use of nuclear power in submarines was developed in 1950. The United States Navy nuclear submarine called Tang set a world record when it submerged 713 feet. With the use of nuclear power, the United States immediately began working on larger submarines. By 1953 the Albacore was ready to go. This vessel was 203 feet long with underwater speeds of 26 knots.

The Nautilus was the first nuclear powered submarine to take on the sea. She easily sailed 1,381 miles from New London to San Juan. She had amazing speed, even outrunning torpedoes! This was quite the development the United States had been looking for to give them an edge over the submarines of other countries.

While the nuclear powered submarine could do wonders in the open waters, the kamikaze suicide aircrafts of the Japanese were something they couldn’t compete with. The United States Navy invested millions of dollars to develop the Triton, a submarine with advanced radar to pick up such aircraft. However they started her design in 1955 and she wasn’t ready to



sail until 1959. By this time advances in aircraft radar around the world made the need for the Triton no longer necessary. The Triton set a world record in 1960 by completing a journey of 36,014 miles in only eighty four days.

The Russian Navy didn’t launch their first nuclear powered submarine until 1958. They wasted no time once they got into the game. Within five years they had twenty four nuclear powered submarines in their fleet. Unfortunately the early models of Russian submarines did not have good internal controls as many of the crews died due to radiation poisoning.

Nuclear power for submarines gave them the ability to go faster and offer better security in the waters. However it now appears that every country has gone to nuclear power for their submarines, once again leveling the playing field. The tragedies of nuclear powered submarines have helped further improvements to develop. Defects were identified and corrected on other vessels. It also lead to the development of the Deep Submergence Rescue Vehicle, designed to assist crew members that become trapped.

In 2000, the 100th year anniversary of the submarine was honored by the United States, Germany, Italy, Demark, Norway, Sweden, and Japan. There are more than 700 submarines in the world operating with at least 300 of them being operated by nuclear power.