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Originally Posted by Commander Wallace
Thanks for not only the answer Blair but also The detailed Information on the various submarines and nuclear material. Cmdr.Buele Balderson was in command of the Sturgeon-Class attack submarine Tautog when it collided with K108 and Balderson was placed on the beach ( lost his command ) after the incident. He left the Navy and became a minister, later passing away in February of 1984 from the effects of Rheumatic fever when he was a child. He was 53 at the time.
I wasn't sure if there might have been residual radiation with this November class submarine as nuclear propulsion was new to the Soviet Navy and corners were cut, regarding safety in trying to catch up to the U.S Navy. Admiral Hyman Rickover, father of nuclear propulsion in the U.S was said to be a tyrant and difficult to deal with. While that may be true, Rickover always stressed safety and incrementalism in the designs of his nuclear reactors and there is no known reactor accidents in the U.S Navy.
Thanks for the Information Blair.
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Indeed the Rickover way saved a lot of lives the man should be applauded not vilified, the problem is the Russians believed that the Americans and British after the end of the Great Patriotic war there was a belief in Russia that both America and Britain wanted to carry it on into Russia.
Stalin once said Numbers have a quality all of their own the Russians new they couldn't match the technology platform to platform so instead they would out build them numerically.
Problem is we see many accidents and cost cutting exercises real tight deadlines and well its a recipe for disaster, the white sea canal for example around 25,000 people died building that (and still is of no strategic use)
The west builds things like fine watches the Russians Build things with a hacksaw and hand file.
The early submarines while on paper out class the western boats in reality have huge short comings which cost a lot of lives, sadly the battle of ideologies which will bankrupt a country and leave the world open to one single dominant super power
The reality is Russia could afford to loose a few in order to catch up there's none of this HSE / OSHA establishment bodies in Russia it is still very matter of fact just get it done and we don't care how or who gets hurt or killed.
On the other side to this Russian captains were reprimanded (as was Zateyev later on) for not ramming a submarine if they had the chance too the admirals of the day were more "don't worry about the damage we will pay for it" truthfully Tautog's commanded shouldn't have been reprimanded at all.