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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of I

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Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Hi everyone, I'm Eves and welcome to This

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Speaker 1: Day and History Class, a podcast that is in a

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Speaker 1: long term relationship with history. I am very grateful that

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Speaker 1: I have this podcast to help me remember what day

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Speaker 1: it is, because in the times of quarantine, what data

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Speaker 1: it is can get very confusing. So that is one

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Speaker 1: fortunate side effect of hosting this show. Having said that,

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Speaker 1: I hope that this is helping you in this way

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Speaker 1: as well or in any other way. So on with

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Speaker 1: the show. Today it's April. The day was April thirtieth,

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Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one, the Soviet Union commissioned the K nineteen,

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Speaker 1: a ballistic missile equipped nuclear submarine. The Cold War and

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Speaker 1: the arms race between the US and Soviet Union were

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Speaker 1: at a height. The United States launched the first nuclear

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Speaker 1: powered submarine in the world, the USS Nautilus, in nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty four. It first ran under nuclear power in nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty five. Unlike diesel electric submarines, Nautilus could stay submerged

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Speaker 1: for long periods because its atomic engine needed no air.

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Speaker 1: In nineteen fifty eight, Nautilus became the first submarine to

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Speaker 1: cross the North Pole under the Arctic polar ice pack.

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Speaker 1: By the beginning of nineteen sixty one, there were several

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Speaker 1: nuclear powered submarines in service. The Soviet Union was competing

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Speaker 1: to keep up with the US in nuclear submarine development.

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Speaker 1: K nineteen was the first of two Project six fifty

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Speaker 1: eight class submarines built by the Soviet Union in nineteen

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Speaker 1: fifty nine. NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, classified

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Speaker 1: it as the Hotel class. The class was built in

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Speaker 1: response to the United States Skate class nuclear submarines. The

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Speaker 1: Hotel class nuclear submarines were equipped with OUR thirteen ballistic missiles.

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Speaker 1: Construction began on the K nineteen in nineteen fifty eight.

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Speaker 1: Its production and testing were rushed. In fact, the production

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Speaker 1: of Project sixty eight was plagued by accidents. Two workers

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Speaker 1: died in a fire, and six workers died from fumes

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Speaker 1: from gluing rubber lining to a water cistern, and another

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Speaker 1: worker died when he fell between two compartments inside the submarine.

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Speaker 1: K nineteen was launched in April of nineteen fifty nine.

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Speaker 1: When the ceremonial bottle of Champagne was chosen to break

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Speaker 1: against the submarine during launch. The bottle did not break

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Speaker 1: but instead bounced off the whole, and in early nineteen

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Speaker 1: sixty the submarines nuclear reactor was improperly operated and one

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Speaker 1: of the control rods was bent. K nineteen was completed

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Speaker 1: in November of nineteen sixty after going through sea trials,

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Speaker 1: but it was evident that the up Marines construction with

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Speaker 1: shoddy It lost the rubber coating on its hole and

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Speaker 1: had to be repaired. Flooding of the reactor compartment was

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Speaker 1: also recorded. Despite these and other malfunctions, the submarine was

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Speaker 1: commissioned on April thirtieth, nineteen sixty one. A couple of

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Speaker 1: months later, K nineteen went on its first mission, but

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Speaker 1: on July fourth, it malfunctioned again. When the submarine was

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Speaker 1: in the North Atlantic near the south tip of Greenland,

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Speaker 1: a leak in the reactor caused the coolant pumps to fail.

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Speaker 1: This led to a dangerous rise in temperature and the

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Speaker 1: reactor core. Because the long range radio system was damaged,

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Speaker 1: the submarine could not contact Moscow for assistance, so Captain

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Speaker 1: Nikolai vladimirovitch Zatyev ordered engineers to create a makeshift coolant

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Speaker 1: system using an air vent valve in water piping a

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Speaker 1: nuclear crisis was averted, but the crew was exposed to radiation.

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Speaker 1: Eight crew members who fixed the league died within a month,

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Speaker 1: and since the US ventilation system was contaminated, fourteen other

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Speaker 1: crew members died over the next two years. K nineteen

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Speaker 1: faced more accidents the rest of its time and operation.

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Speaker 1: It collided with an American submarine in nineteen sixty nine,

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Speaker 1: and in nineteen seventy two a fire broke out on board,

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Speaker 1: killing around thirty people. K nineteen was finally decommissioned in

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Speaker 1: nineteen nine. Because of its reputation for being involved in

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Speaker 1: deadly incidents, K nineteen was nicknamed Hiroshima. I'm Eve Jeff

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Speaker 1: Code and hopefully you know a little more about history

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Speaker 1: today than you did yesterday. And if you have any

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Speaker 1: nice comments you want to leave us, or if you

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Speaker 1: have any suggestions for episodes, you can send them to

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Speaker 1: us on social media where at t d I h

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Speaker 1: C Podcast. You can also email us at this day

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Speaker 1: at I heeart media dot com. Thanks again for listening

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Speaker 1: to the show and we'll see you tomorrow mm hmmm.

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