Discuss the impact of nuclear powered submarines on US-Soviet relations during the cold war (1945-1991).

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Impact of submarines during cold war

Back Ground Information

The Cold War started soon after World War Two . The main rivals of Cold War were Soviet Union and the United States . Since both United States and Soviet Union were afraid of attacking each other directly , they resulted to indirect form of attacks where they threatened each other they took sides in conflicts in other parts of the world as well as defaming each other 's reputation

However , Cold War was potentially dangerous

since the two superpowers (Soviet Union and United states ) had nuclear missiles and the means to launch them against their enemy if they were provoked , nuclear power had been developed a number of years before . After the Second World War there was stiff competition between the two superpowers to construct nuclear powered submarines (Gary E . W

Submarines played a very important role because they utilized the stealth advantage to study the enemy without being noticed

Impact of Submarine on United States and soviet relationship during the cold war

United States sole purpose of manufacturing the submarines was mainly to deter other countries and more so the Soviet Union from having an upper edge as a world superpower . There was therefore a continuous competition between the two powers to construct more advanced submarines (Gary E . W

By late the 1950s , America had successfully built a nuclear -powered ballistic missile submarine , this made the Soviets more determined than ever before to catch up with the military advantage that United States had achieved . As a result of their efforts , the Soviets were able to produce their first nuclear powered submarine , which was subjected to sea trials in 1960 . This submarine was referred to as K-19 (Norman

br Moore K .J . 234

However , K-19 was later destroyed when it caught fire on its first mission . This was brought about by poor safety precautions when the submarine was sent to its first mission before it was fully operational Many of the personnel aboard were burnt while others were exposed to radioactive materials and the rest drowned . Only few of them who were lucky enough managed to escape with minor injuries

By 1978 , the submarines were very effective war machines because apart from attacking the enemy in a very covert manner , they could be used as reconnaissance tools , which could enter the enemy territory without any notice to gather intelligence information . For example a U .S submarine called Batsman trailed a Soviet nuclear submarine through the East Coast of America . According to military experts , this contributed to the end of Cold War since Russia was prompted to develop more expensive and quiet designs of submarines . Many people believe that the increased strain on the military budget that went towards design and development of quieter submarines contributed to the weakening of the defensive capability of the Soviet Union (John

. C . 44

As stated before the submarines were effectively used for spying on the rivals . Spying involved top-secret missions whereby...