Summary Nuclear age brings nuclear powered naval forces: carriers, submarines, frigates. In 1955, first nuclear powered submarine allowed crew to remain underwater forever. They can now launch ballistic missiles underwater, which are equipped with nuclear warheads. They can strike anywhere in the world and be undetected. So, navies improve their listening systems including underwater sonar cables, towed arrays on helicopters. Destruction was mutually assured and that was the only true deterrence.

In 1945, US was still fighting Japan in the Pacific after Germany surrendered. US invades Okinawa with 200,000 men after pounding it with naval artillery for 5 days. Japs send their fleet, including the Yamato, their largest battleship. She was ordered to ground itself at Okinawa and fight to the death. Yamato never gets to Okinawa and is sunk en-route. But 10,000 US soldiers die at Okinawa. 200,000 Japanese are killed. US project that invading Japan would mean 500,000 US deaths, and millions of Japanese. As the US prepares for an invasion, they transport a top secret cargo to Tinian Island. This was the atomic bomb. Aug 6th 1945, little boy is dropped on Hiroshima. 80,000 civilians are killed within hours. 3 days later US drop another bomb on Nagasaki. On Aug 15th, 1945 Emperor Hirohito announces Japanese surrender.

In the 50's Soviet leader Stalin consolidates his power. He plans 15 carriers, 21 capital ships, 90 cruisers, 222 destroyers and 489 submarines. But soviets knew 1 carrier = 1000 tanks. They scarp the carriers and the capital ships. They focus on building submarines. US meanwhile had 6000 ships, but didn't need as many during peace time. They gather 95 obsolete ships in Bikini atoll in 1946. This is the first nuclear test at sea. Most of the ships remain afloat, but the radiation levels are lethal. On Apr 9th 1949, NATO is born. Attack on 1 treaty state is considered an attack on all. They enemy is the soviets who is putting large sums into nuclear research. On Aug 29th, 1949, Soviets test their bomb.

The navies were once again critical to keep sea routes open in the event of an all out war. Soviets had the German Type XXI subs and had used them to develop state of the art submarine fleets. The US lay submarine cables all over the ocean to detect the soviet subs using sound waves. In 1955 Us launch the USS Nautilus, their first nuclear powered sub. It can stay underwater indefinitely. Soviets have their own nuclear sub in 1958. But the K3 was noisy and could be picked up by US built sensor cables. The Soviets only realize this in the 1980's. They start building a secret naval base in Cuba. In 1962, They had sends ships with nuclear tipped missiles to Cuba, to develop a deterrent against a pre-emptive US attack. US spy ships spotted the launching pads in Oct 1962. JFK announces a naval blockade of Cuba. But the Soviets blink and orders the removal of missiles from Cuba. The Cuban crises ends. The Soviets knew that US submarines were lurking off the Soviet coast, with nuclear ballistic missiles and any attack on US would lead to a devastation of the Soviet Union.

The US submarines work hard to be quieter. The boomers (ones carrying ballistic missiles) have a large patrol area. They are impossible to detect when idling on lowest power. The soviets don't have boomers, but develop submarines with cruise missile launchers with a range of 450 Kms. But the submarines had to remain on surface to pilot the missiles, which made them vulnerable to enemy attacks. The US also builds new carriers, with steam turbines, but nuclear weapons. In 1961, they commission the first nuclear powered carrier, the USS Enterprise. 342 m long and 78 m wide. Has 8 nuclear reactors. 62 kmph. Has catapults to launch jet planes in the air. Angled flight deck meant that take off and landing strips were separate. They also create an plane arrest wire system to capture the aircraft while landing. On an Operational readiness training day, a plane with a missile catches fire when a machines that place air-crafts in position, exhaust gets too close to the missile. The carrier fuel tank catches fire and explodes. If the nuclear reactors caught fire, it would radiate the nearby coast of Hawai. But the crew manages to get the fire under control. The Enterprise is saved.

The Enterprise serves in the Vietnam war to bomb targets in soviet supported North Vietnam. The navy develops speed boats and other smaller crafts (Patrol Craft Fast, or Swift Boats) to navigate the rivers of North Vietnam. Swift boats go at 39 kmph. But they had no protection, and 2 machine guns for offense. Crews frequently modify their boats to protect themselves. More guns, bullet proof vests over the hull, muffle the engines for stealth. After many yrs and casualties, US is forced to retreat from Vietnam.

In June 1974, US vessel Glomar Explorer officially looks for minerals on the ocean floor. But they are searching for a sunken Soviet sub, K-129. The fuel leaked and ate through the hull. The US knew where the sub was due to their underground sonar cables. US recovers 6 bodies, and parts of the submarine. In 1975 the US puts Nimitz class of carriers in service. But the soviet carriers had a different mission profile and were aimed at anti submarine operations. In 1981 US launches the Ohio class nuclear submarines with space for 24 ballistic missiles, each with upto 14 warheads. They are very quiet and cannot be detected underwater. In 1980's Soviets know about the underwater sonar system of the US and start hiding under the arctic ice. From there they can launch their missiles (which have range of 9000 kms) to any city on the globe. France develops their own nuclear subs. They also launch the F70 frigates, specifically for anti-submarine operations. They develop a towed sonar array to detect submarine sound patterns, without being clouded by the noise of the ship itself.

The Soviets develop anti-ship air-crafts such as the Tupolev-16. They carry cruise missiles with range of upto 700 kms. The Tupolev-22M was twice as fast as the Tupolev-16. This tenuous balance of firepower keeps world peace for several decades. But this is threatened in the late 1980's.

• Documentary