During the Cold War, the world’s oceans were awash in American nuclear weapons. Most of these deployments remained a secret until the 2016 declassification of a report titled “Nuclear Weapons Afloat” revealed the full extent of America’s nuclear stockpile at sea. Aboard surface ships, submarines and aircraft carriers, over 5,000 nukes crisscrossed the waters of the world, posing an often unknown threat to any that encountered them. The risk of nuclear accidents was extremely high, and a number of incidents including explosions, collisions, and fires brought these sea-based weapons only seconds or feet away from disaster…
