True Stories

The Widow Makers (1994x1)

Air date: Jun 26, 1994

The Widow Makers follow the story of the USSR 658 nuclear class submarine fleet including the ill-fated K-19 USSR submarine which on 4 July 1961, suffered a complete loss of coolant to its reactor. With no backup system, the captain ordered members of the engineering crew to find a solution to avoid a nuclear meltdown. Sacrificing their own lives, the engineering crew jury-rigged a secondary coolant system and kept the reactor from a meltdown. With interviews and original source footage it is a compelling and cautionary tale of heroism versus ideology.