USS Seawolf off the coast of Key West, Florida, in 1958.

USS Seawolf

Under the direction of Captain (later Admiral) Hyman Rickover, the US Navy developed both pressurized water and liquid metal prototypes. The company completed its first two nuclear submarines, the Nautilus and Seawolf, and tested the two types, but the Seawolf reactor ran into problems (including leaks), so the liquid metal concept was abandoned. The Navy then also developed natural circulation reactors. US attack submarines (except the natural circulation prototype USS Narwhal) are built with pressurized water reactors, while Ohio-class strategic submarines are powered by natural circulation reactors. The latter are inherently quieter than pressurized water units, since they do not require pumps, at least at low and medium power.

Other nuclear navies used pressurized water or natural circulation reactors, with one exception: the Soviet Union's Alpha-class superfast attack submarines, built with liquid metal reactors in the 1970s and 1980s.

Nuclear Navy

The introduction of the new nuclear submarines had two far-reaching effects. First, it introduced an entirely new type of submarine, the strategic submarine. Second, it revolutionized anti-submarine warfare, with attack submarines becoming the primary anti-submarine weapon. Attack submarines are equipped with torpedoes and possibly anti-ship missiles. Strategic submarines can carry similar weapons, but their primary weapons are submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) ​​such as the US or UK Trident.

 

Strategic Submarines

Strategic submarines are valuable because they are very difficult to find and destroy, and as long-range SLBMs become more accurate, their importance increases. Accurate missiles can destroy land-based missiles. If all strategic missiles were deployed in such locations, the first to launch them could hope to disarm the enemy. However, if a nuclear power deployed missiles at sea, such a preemptive attack would be virtually impossible unless a breakthrough in submarine detection was developed.