Doomsday Torpedoes: Live Testing of Soviet Naval Nuclear Weapons, 1954-1962 (Technology@War)

Through 1954 to 1962, this history traces Soviet nuclear naval torpedoes, testing, deployment, and submarine launch platforms.

In the aftermath of the Second World War, relations between the Soviet Union and its former Western allies rapidly deteriorated into the Cold War. At sea, the USSR faced a glaring disadvantage. To redress the balance, it armed many of its warships with nuclear weapons ranging from torpedoes to ballistic missiles. Doomsday Torpedoes explores the history of these weapons and their live testing during one of the most dangerous decades of the Cold War.

The US Navy’s vast carrier fleet posed a formidable threat, capable of encircling the Soviet Union and striking from multiple directions with nuclear-armed aircraft. Soviet planners sought ways to counter this menace with a single devastating blow. Nuclear-armed torpedoes and anti-ship missiles seemed to offer just such a capability.

This book examines their development, testing, and deployment in detail, alongside the parallel evolution of Soviet submarines—the primary launch platforms for naval nuclear weapons.

Focusing on the period from 1954 to 1962, Doomsday Torpedoes brings into sharp relief the events that nearly triggered catastrophe, including the Cuban Missile Crisis, when Soviet submarines came perilously close to launching nuclear-armed torpedoes. It is a gripping account of how the pursuit of naval parity brought the world to the brink of a Third World War. The volume is extensively illustrated with photographs, maps, diagrams, figures and charts, and includes the @War series’ signature colour artwork.

Krzysztof Dabrowski from Poland has a lifelong interest in the subject of military aviation, and has written dozens of articles on a variety of related subjects for printed magazines and the ACIG.org/ACIG.info, AeroHisto and The Boresight websites. His particular area of interest is the air warfare during the Cold War, the aircraft involved, and the experiences of their crews. This is his first instalment for Helion.