Soviet submarine K - 19 K - 19 was one of the first two Soviet submarine s of the 658 class ( NATO reporting name ) , the first generation nuclear submarine equipped with nuclear ballistic missiles , specifically the R - 13 SLBM . Due to the large number of accidents during its construction and service life , it gained an unofficial nickname " Hiroshima " among naval sailors and officers . Over its service life , it ran 332 , 396 miles during 20 , 223 working hours . Nuclear accident . On 4 July 1961 , under the command of Captain First Rank Nikolai Vladimirovich Zateyev , " K - 19 " was conducting exercises in the North Atlantic close to Southern Greenland when it developed a major leak in its reactor coolant system , causing the water pressure in the aft reactor to drop to zero and causing failure of the coolant pumps . A separate accident had disabled the long - range radio system , so they could not contact Moscow . The reactor temperature rose uncontrollably , reaching – almost the melting point of the fuel rods – and the chain reactions continued despite the control rods being inserted via a SCRAM mechanism . The reactor continued to heat up as coolant is still required during shutdown until the reactions decrease . Despite Zateyev ' s and others ' earlier requests , no backup cooling system had been installed . As a cooling back - up system had not been installed , Zateyev made a drastic decision ; a team of eight engineering officers and crew worked for extended periods in high - radiation areas to implement a new coolant system by cutting off an air vent valve and welding a water - supplying pipe into it . The released radioactive steam , containing fission product s , was drawn into the ventilation system and spread to other sections of the ship . Fortunately , the cooling water pumped from the reactor section worked well . The incident contaminated / irradiated the crew , parts of the ship , and some of the ballistic missile s carried on board ; the entire crew received substantial doses of radiation . All seven men in the repair crew and their divisional officer died of radiation exposure within the month . Fifteen more would die within the next two years . The captain decided to head south to meet diesel submarines expected to be there , instead of continuing on the mission ' s planned route . 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 . A diesel submarine , , picked up " K - 19 " s low - power distress transmissions and joined up with it . 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 the " S - 270 " . Its crew was evacuated , and the boat was towed to the home base ; after landing , the vessel contaminated a zone within . The damaged reactors were removed and replaced , a process which took two years . During this time , there was further radiation poisoning of the environment and the workers involved . The original compartment was dumped into the Kara Sea . The official explanation of the disaster is , that during the repair process it was discovered that the catastrophe had been caused by a drop from a welding electrode , that had fallen into the first cooling circuit of the aft reactor during the initial construction . However , this is disputed . According to retired Rear - Admiral Nikolai Mormul , when the reactor was first started ashore , no pressure gauge had been connected to the first cooling circuit . By the time somebody realized what was happening , the pipes had been subjected to a pressure of 400 atmospheres ; double the acceptable limit . Checking the pipes would have been costly and reporting the negligence would have hurt the career of Captain Zateyev , who preferred to hide the fact . " K - 19 " returned to the fleet , now having acquired the additional nickname " Hiroshima " . On 1 February 2006 , former President of the Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev proposed in a letter to the Norwegian Nobel Committee that the crew of " K - 19 " be nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for their actions on 4 July 1961 . In late March 2006 , Nikolai Zateyev was formally nominated for the award . List of crew members who died after the accident on 4 July 1961 . Several crew members received fatal doses of radiation during repairs on the reserve coolant system of Reactor # 8 . All of them died between one and three weeks after the accident from severe radiation sickness . Many other crew members also received doses of radiation exceeding permissible levels . They underwent medical treatment during the following year . The treatment was devised by Professor Z . Volynskiy and included bone marrow transplantation and blood transfusion . 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 . For reasons of secrecy the official diagnosis was not " radiation sickness " but " astheno - vegetative syndrome " . This deliberate misdiagnosis meant that the surviving crew members had problems in obtaining future employment . See also . Soviet naval officer Vasiliy Arkhipov – at the time of the nuclear accident on 4 July 1961 , he was the executive officer to the Commander , Nikolai Zateyev . Collision . At 07 : 13 on 15 November 1969 , " K - 19 " collided with the attack submarine in the Barents Sea at a depth of . It was able to surface by means of an emergency main ballast tank blow . The impact completely destroyed the bow sonar systems and mangled the covers of the forward torpedo tubes . " K - 19 " was again repaired and returned to the fleet . Fire . On 24 February 1972 , a fire broke out on board " K - 19 " while the submarine was at a depth of , some from Newfoundland , in Canada . A total of 28 sailors died in the fire , caused by hydraulic fluid leaking onto a hot filter . The boat surfaced , and surface warships evacuated the crew , except for 12 men trapped in the aft torpedo room . Towing was delayed by a gale , and the aft torpedo room could not be reached because of conditions in the engine room . After the gale abated , the boat was towed to Severomorsk on 4 April , and the men were rescued after surviving 24 days in the lightless , heatless torpedo room . The rescue operation lasted more than 40 days and involved over 30 ships . " K - 19 " was again repaired and returned to the fleet . Decommissioning . The submarine was decommissioned in 1991 , and was transferred in 1994 to the naval repair yard at Polyarny . In March 2002 , it was towed to the Nerpa Shipyard , Snezhnogorsk , Murmansk , to be scrapped . It was announced in October 2003 that scrapping would start soon . In 2006 , the " K - 19 " was purchased by Vladimir Romanov , who once served on the sub as a conscript , with the intention of " " Turning it into a Moscow - based meeting place to build links between submarine veterans from Russia and other countries . " " So far , the plans remain on hold , and many of K - 19 ' s survivors have objected to them . Popular culture . The movie " " ( 2002 ) , starring Harrison Ford and Liam Neeson , is based on the story of the " K - 19 " s first disaster . " The Widowmaker " nickname was used only in the movie . In real life , the submarine had no nickname until the nuclear accident on 4 July 1961 , when she got her actual nickname " Hiroshima " .