Accidents involving nuclear submarines

Accidents involving nuclear submarines

There have been a large number of accidents involving nuclear-powered submarines — sinkings, groundings, collisions, fires, explosions and radioactive leaks. Some of the most serious on record are:

1963: USS Thresher sinks off Cape Cod

1967: USS Guardfish runs aground in Hawaii

1968: USS Seawolf runs aground off Cape Cod; USS Scorpion sinks off the Azores; USS von Steuben collides with a tanker off Spain; a Soviet submarine sinks off the Kola Peninsula

1970: A Soviet November class submarine is abandoned and sinks off Spain; a Polaris submarine rams a freighter off Virginia

1971: USS Dace loses 500 gallons of cooling water in the Thames, Connecticut

1972: A disabled Soviet Hotel II class submarine is towed across the Atlantic; a Soviet submarine is towed to base after a nuclear torpedo accident

1973: USS Guardfish leaks its primary coolant

1974: USS Pintado is rammed and damaged by a Soviet submarine off Kamchatka

1979: USS Hawkbill leaks primary coolant near Hawaii

1980: Fire disables a Soviet Echo class submarine off Okinawa

1981: USS George Washington collides with and sinks a freighter off Japan; explosion disables a Soviet submarine

1983: A Soviet Charlie class submarine sinks off Petropavlovsk

1985: A Soviet submarine reactor explodes in Shkotovo

1986: A Soviet Yankee I class missile submarine sinks off Bermuda

1987: Celtic League (Isle of Man) documents sinkings of fishing vessels by submarines

1989: Soviet Mike class submarine sinks off the Norwegian coast; a Soviet Echo II class submarine is disabled by fire and leaks coolant off Norway

From GLW issue 35