submarine disasters

Chronicles the history of the Soviet Union's desperate race to keep up with American submarine technology during the Cold War, focusing on the Soviet submarine K-19.

When a Soviet Echo class nulear submarine armed with missiles sinks to the bottom of the Pacific, the U.S. enters a race with Russia to find and recover the sub's deadly cargo and vital secrets.

In the waning days of World War II, a historic and little-known battle took place under the frozen seas off the coast of Norway and changed the course of the war. As the Germans were preparing for defeat, they packed a submarine (U-864) with their most advanced rocket and jet aircraft technology, a group of German and Japanese scientists, and tons of mercury for use in missile and torpedo detonation systems. With this they felt Japan could re-establish air superiority in the Pacific giving Germany the time to regroup and defend the Fatherland. Unbeknownst to them, British code breakers, working with the Norwegian underground, had discovered their plans and chased the U-864 throughout the North Atlantic. It evaded its pursuers and headed out to sea to complete its mission. But the British submarine HMS Venturer was waiting for it and in an intense cat-and-mouse game beneath the waves, the Venturer won, sinking the U-864 and becoming the only submarine in history to sink another sub in underwater combat.

Recounts the circumstances surrounding the 1963 implosion of the United States nuclear submarine Thresher, which was the country's first loss of a nuclear submarine.

Examines the origins and evolution of submarines, and features photographs and information about submarines that have been sunk and later found, from the Civil War "Hunley," to the Russian nuclear sub, the "Kursk.".