Project Nobska

, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine (SSN), became operational in 1955. The nuclear submarine could maintain a high speed at deep depths indefinitely, creating a more difficult ASW problem than any previous type of submarine, as was shown in Nautilus first exercises. Within a few years, more exercises would show that other SSNs had difficulty detecting and tracking an attacking SSN in time to launch a counterattack. Future SSNs would be even faster, as the fully streamlined conventional was already demonstrating. It was expected that the Soviet Union would have its own SSN within a few years, as it had produced its own atomic bomb, hydrogen bomb, and advanced conventional submarines only a few years behind their development in other countries. As it turned out, the Soviet Navy was only three years behind the USN with their first nuclear-powered submarine. Various ASW technologies and weapons, including new surface ship and submarine sonars, SOSUS, ASROC, the Mark 45 nuclear torpedo, and "Stinger" (later SUBROC) were in development. Columbus Iselin II, director of WHOI, suggested to Admiral Burke that an inter-agency study was necessary to determine the best approach in each area, and probably also to improve coordination among the numerous offices pursuing the problem. The study ran from 18 June through 15 September 1956, and the final report was released on 1 December 1956. ==Key findings==

The final report explored the ways that oceanography influenced the ASW problem, noted that all Soviet submarine bases required long transits in shallow waters to operating areas, and recommended that active as well as passive sonar be explored for improved implementation. SUBROC was a submarine-launched short-range ballistic missile that carried a nuclear depth bomb; it was deployed in 1965. ASROC does not appear in summaries of Nobska recommendations; however, it became the primary ASW weapon of USN surface combatants. Although references do not make a direct link, the radical redesign of the internal US Navy SSN arrangement between the Skipjack and Thresher classes is often attributed to Nobska. It was proposed by the Naval Underwater Systems Center the month the Nobska report was published. Within five years regular Polaris deterrent patrols were in progress. Recommendations not implemented Nobska recommendations that were not implemented included a small 500-ton SSN (to allow large numbers to be built quickly) and a nuclear-powered destroyer escort (DEN). A small fuel cell-powered submarine, possibly with a reactor to heat the fuel cells, was also considered. However, both the small SSN and the DEN were dependent on leveraging high power-to-weight reactors from the developmental nuclear-powered aircraft program, and these reactors were never successfully developed. Fuel cell technology was insufficiently developed to be practical at the time. ==See also==