Introduction

‘Nuclear Sharks’ explores the silent, stealthy symbol of the Cold War.

• A war waged outside public view.
• A war about strategy and world domination.
• A war of technological advancement, with lethal consequences.

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Outline

For years the Soviet Navy sent nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarines to patrol off the American coast. Their missiles took aim at Washington, New York, and other major American cities.

On 03 October 1986, the Soviet Yankee-class ballistic missile submarine K-219, equipped with 16 R-27 nuclear missiles was on patrol in the North Atlantic, about 700 miles off the coast of Bermuda.

In manoeuvring to evade the US Navy submarine shadowing it, the K-219 suffered irreparable damage to an already leaky missile silo. Seawater poured into the rupture, mixing with liquid fuel to create clouds of lethal gas.

The craft went into a near-fatal dive, but Captain Igor Britanov managed to get it to the surface. Dead in the water, with both her reactors out of commission, the K-219 was on fire belowdecks. It was a nuclear submariner’s worst nightmare.

The disaster culminates when the nuclear reactor overheats, threatening to cause a Chernobyl-like disaster in the Atlantic. Two crewmen volunteered to take on the dangerous task of entering the overheated and radioactive reactor compartment to prevent a nuclear explosion by manually shutting down the two power plants.

This is the gripping story of the young Soviet sailors who fought to save their submarine, risking fire, smoke, poison gas, and intense radioactivity.

Nuclear Sharks: Cold War Submarine Adventures Series

You can find a full index of Nuclear Sharks: Cold War Submarine Adventures here.

Production & Filming Details

• Narrator(s): Kenneth Welsh.
• Director(s): Jane Armstrong.
• Producer(s): Jane Armstrong and David Lint.
• Production: FilmRise.
• Distributor(s): Discovery Channel.
• Release Date: 1998
• Running Time: 46-52 minutes.
• Country: US.
• Language: English.