The boat was hastily built by the Soviets in response to United States' developments in nuclear submarines as part of the arms race.

A backup system included in the design was not installed, so the captain ordered members of the engineering crew to find a solution to avoid a nuclear meltdown.

In the late 1950s, the leaders of the Soviet Union were determined to catch up with the United States and began to build a nuclear submarine fleet.

In practice, this meant that speed was prioritized over safety in the construction of vessels, which were then rushed through sea trials so they could be put into service.

[2] Breaking with tradition, a man (Captain 3rd Rank V. V. Panov of the 5th Urgent Unit) instead of a woman was chosen to smash the ceremonial champagne bottle across the ship's stern.

[2] Vasily Arkhipov, who would later prevent the Cuban Missile Crisis from turning into nuclear war, was appointed as executive officer.

In January 1960, confusion among the crew during a watch change led to improper operation of the reactor and a reactor-control rod was bent.

During a test dive to the maximum depth of 300 m (980 ft), flooding was reported in the reactor compartment, and Captain Zateyev ordered the submarine to immediately surface, where the boat heeled over on her port side due to the water she had taken on.

On 4 July 1961, under the command of Captain First Rank Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev, K-19 was conducting exercises in the North Atlantic off the south-east coast of Greenland.

The boat could not contact Moscow and request assistance because a separate accident had damaged the long-range radio system.

Making a drastic decision, Zateyev ordered the engineering section to fabricate a new coolant system by cutting off an air vent valve and welding a water-supply pipe to it.

[6] Instead of continuing on the mission's planned route, the captain decided to head south to meet diesel-powered submarines expected to be there.

Worries about a potential crew mutiny prompted Zateyev to have all small arms thrown overboard except for five pistols distributed to his most trusted officers.

American warships nearby had also heard the transmission and offered to help, but Zateyev, afraid of giving away Soviet military secrets to the West, refused and sailed to meet S-270.

[8] According to the government's official explanation of the disaster, the repair crews found that the catastrophe had been caused by a faulty welding incident during initial construction.

This crack was subject to prolonged and intensive pressure (over 200 standard atmospheres (20,000 kilopascals)), compromising the pipe's integrity and finally causing it to fail.

Retired Rear-Admiral Nikolai Mormul asserted that when the reactor was first started ashore, the construction crew had not attached a pressure gauge to the primary cooling circuit.

[9] Several crew members received fatal doses of radiation during repairs on the reserve coolant system of Reactor #8.

It saved, among others, Chief Lieutenant Mikhail Krasichkov and Captain 3rd class Vladimir Yenin, who had received doses of radiation that were otherwise considered deadly.

The impact completely destroyed the bow sonar systems and mangled the covers of the forward torpedo tubes.

[13] On 24 February 1972, a fire broke out while the submarine was at a depth of 120 m (390 ft), some 1,300 km (700 nmi; 810 mi) from Newfoundland, Canada.

[14] In 2023, The Athletic reported that Romanov had refurbished the submarine to serve as his place of residence in Nikul'skaya, described as a village in northwestern Russia.