The Navy had put itself forward as the most suitable branch of the Soviet armed forces to deliver a nuclear strike, believing its submarine technology and tactics to be superior to the rest of the world.
In the early 1950s, the Soviet Ministry of Medium Machine Building secretly initiated plans for incorporating nuclear warheads into submarine warfare.
One concept, the T-15 project, aimed to provide a nuclear warhead with a diameter of 1,550 mm (61 in), which was completely incompatible with the traditional caliber torpedo already used in Soviet diesel-powered submarines.
Stalin and the armed forces saw benefits to both calibers of torpedo: the T-5 was a superior tactical option, but the T-15 had a larger blast.
The plans for the T-15 torpedo and for an appropriately redesigned submarine, named project 627, were authorized on September 12, 1952, but were not officially approved until 1953, surprising the Navy, which had been unaware of the central government activity.
The large size of the weapon limited the capacity of a modified submarine to a single torpedo that could only travel at a speed of 56 km/h (30 kn).
[3] The T-15 was intended to destroy naval bases and coastal towns by an underwater explosion that resulted in massive tsunami waves.
When he introduced the concept to the navy they did not welcome the idea, being turned off by the wide area effect which would kill so many innocent people.
Technological advances led to the weapon selection process favoring more tactical approaches that were amenable to quicker execution.
[3] On 10 October 1957, in another test on Novaya Zemlya, the Whiskey class submarine S-144 launched a live T-5 nuclear torpedo.
The T-5, like the US Mark 45 torpedo, was not designed to make direct hits but to maximize a blast kill zone in the water.
[15] In 2015, information emerged that Russia may be developing a new up to 100 MT[16] thermonuclear torpedo, the Status-6 Oceanic Multipurpose System,[17][18][19] codenamed "Kanyon" by Pentagon officials.
[24][25][7] More recent information suggests a top speed of 104 km/h (56 kn), with a range of 10,000 km (6,200 mi) and a depth maximum of 1,000 m (3,300 ft).
In 1960, the United States revealed its development of nuclear warheads that could be dropped from the delta-winged Convair B-58 Hustler, the first operational supersonic bomber, over target points detected by sonar systems.
[32] The initial design was undertaken in 1959 or 1960 by the Applied Research Laboratory, University of Washington, Seattle, Wash., and the Westinghouse Electric Corp., Baltimore, Md.
Target guidance signals, informed by a gyro and depth gear, could also be sent via the wire connection, as the torpedo had no onboard homing ability.
[32] The nuclear warhead offered a large explosion that could destroy high speed, deep diving submarines.
[2][32] The Mark 48 is 530 mm (21 in) in diameter, has a length of just over 5.8 m (19 ft), and carries a warhead of approximately 290 kg (650 lb) of high explosives.
The wire only comes into play if the target's position and movement suggest a change is needed to correct the torpedo's gyro course.
Vadim Orlov, who was a communications intelligence officer, stated that on 27 October, U.S. destroyers lobbed practice depth charges at B-59.
Captain Valentin Savitsky, unable to establish communications with Moscow, with a crew suffering from heat and high levels of carbon dioxide, ordered the T5 nuclear torpedo to be assembled for firing.
The Deputy Brigade Commander Second Captain Vasili Arkhipov calmed Savitsky down and they made the decision to surface the submarine.