Soviet Submarines Movements During The Cold War example essay topic

Many of the military technological advancements that have been made in the last 60 years can be attributed to the Cold War. Much of the technology developed during the period of the Cold War is still in use today by the military and government. Advancements in offensive technology are well known to just about everyone in the way of nuclear energy harnessed in the form of the nuclear bomb, but little is known about the battle for information during the Cold War. The Cold War produced some of the most advanced technology used in the fields of detection and reconnaissance in history.

The United States' detection and reconnaissance technology played a major role against communism during the Cold War, and these types of technology still play roles today. A cold war is an ideological conflict with military standoffs while keeping diplomatic relations open. The Cold War consisted of two sides (or Superpowers); the first was the United States, who believed in and practiced capitalism, the opposing side was the Soviet Union, who believed in and practiced the idea of communism. Many historians dispute the start time of the conflict; however, it began some time after World War II and dragged on until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.

The Cold War Project Group Online claims "the advancement of technology during the Cold War was greater than that of any one time period" ("The Arms Race"). The war developed nuclear missiles and many other technological advancements taking the world into a new era, the Nuclear Era. It was estimated at one time the United States and the Soviet Union could nuke the world seven times over; the governments realized the pointlessness of so many nuclear missiles and turned their attention toward other ways to get an upper hand in the conflict. Tensions ran high during this time; without military confrontation, research and resources were redirected towards other fields of technology such as detection systems, surveillance equipment, and underwater technologies. The North American Aerospace Defense Command, other wise known as NORAD, is a series of radar stations in North America that were built in 1950's.

NORAD is a joint United States and Canadian organization that provides warnings and aerospace control for North America. The North American Aerospace Defense Command consists of three joint radar systems: the Pinetree Line, McGill Fence, and Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line). Pinetree Line was completed in 1954 and is made up of 33 stations across southern Canada. The McGill Fence was completed in 1957 and consists of Doppler radar (for low-flying air crafts and missiles) along the 55th parallel of North America.

Thanks to the DEW line system of radars, North America is given about three hours before largely populated cities are reached by aircraft or missile from the Soviet Union. On September 12, 1957 NORAD came online in Cheyenne Mountain, Colorado. NORAD played an unusual role during the Cold War. On July 31, 1979 Ronald Reagan visited NORAD. During Reagan's visit asked if the United States had any defense against a missile attack and was told that U.S. has no defense against nuclear attack, except for the threat of retaliation (Fitzgerald 20). Soon after taking office, Reagan "launched the largest peace-time military buildup in American history" and gave the go ahead on the Strategic Defense Initiative also known as Star War (Fitzgerald 148).

Star War utilized laser and satellite technology to push Soviet missiles off course and stop them from hitting their intended targets. Although the project was scraped by the United States, both the United States and the Soviet Union put billions of dollars into the project thus contributing to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War. The role that NORAD has taken to today is quite different form its earlier role during the Cold War. In 1989 NORAD suffered from cut backs because of the cuts to military funding after the end of the Cold War.

NORAD now helps with tracking small-engine planes in the fight on drugs. Many of the radar systems have been replaced and the base in Cheyenne Mountain has been updated. At Christmas NORAD tracks Santa Claus delivering toys to children on the web site. Currently NORAD stands ready but not like it was during the Cold War. NORAD was not the only technology that played a role during the Cold War. The United States did not see space exploration as a priority until the Soviet Union launched a satellite into space.

On October 4, 1957 a new threat launched into the sky called Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. This satellite was launched by the Soviets not the United States causing the United States to refocus their technology efforts towards space. Although Sputnik was harmless it became a political nightmare for United States government officials in the realm of propaganda. Americans thought that the Soviet Union passed the United States in technology contributing to the idea of the "missile gap" and had become superior to the United States (Finkelstein 8). President Eisenhower knew about the satellite before the Soviets launched it thanks to the U 2 Spy Plane. Many Americans also had the notion that the satellite could fire nuclear missiles thus causing the bomb shelter build frenzy during the Cold War (Finkelstein 8).

This caused the construction of many public bomb shelters and even air raid drills in school, where children ducked under their desks. The idea of Sputnik circling the Earth caused wide spread panic among Americans. Eisenhower also knew Sputnik had no offensive capabilities and therefore could not threaten the United States, because it could only send out radio signals. The United States later turns this media nightmare around The United States answered the Sputnik launch four month later with the launch of the Explorer I on January 31, 1958 and went one step further by putting a man on the moon on July 15, 1969. The Soviets never put a man on the moon thus making the United States the dominating power in the Space Race. Even with continuing tension between the United States and Soviet Union space exploration stayed a priority for the United States, who launched many more satellite to explore the universe and expanded it.

Winning the media battle was not the United States' only reason for enter the Space Race. CORONA was the first United States reconnaissance satellites to be launched by the United States. A total of 145 CORONA satellites were launched between 1959 and 1972 (Johnson). These satellites were top secret and unknown to the general public until 1995 when President Clinton declassified the project. The mission of these satellites was to photograph the Soviet military secrets and later help to prove that the "missile gap", in which the Soviet Union supposedly had more nuclear missile than the United States, did not exist (Johnson). The spy satellite was one of the greatest accomplishments in reconnaissance technology.

Many spy satellites orbit the earth today but the exploration of space has been directed else where. Since the end of the Cold War the United States has pursued further space exploration using more sophisticated satellites and probes. The United States has invested a lot money and time into NASA and the space program after the Cold War. However, most of the money and time has been used towards the exploration of Mars (the fourth planet for the Sun).

The satellite called Sprit landed on Mars in 2003 releasing two rovers. These two rovers are still on the planet today exploring the surface of Mars. The United States continues to explore space today just as the United States did during the Cold War. Using spy satellites to take photos was not the only asset at the United States disposal. The U 2 spy plane played major roles in the reconnaissance field during the Cold War.

Built by Lockheed, a civilian company, under the Eisenhower administration, the U 2 spy plane flew with a safe altitude of 70,000 feet and radius of 3,000 nautical miles. Under the direct control of the CIA the U 2 Spy Plane flew many missions over the Soviet Union specifically look for Intercontinental Ballistic Missile sites to assess Soviet nuclear capabilities. This all end when Gary Power, a U 2 spy plane pilot, was shot down in Soviet air space. The U 2 spy plane helped to keep the world from a Nuclear Holocaust in 1962. After Kennedy defeated Eisenhower in the election of 1961, Kennedy placed the U 2 Spy plane under the control of the United States Air Force just in time for the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962.

The cameras aboard the U 2 spy plane found that the Cubans had Soviet missiles in the country. With Soviet nuclear missiles so close to the United States, Cuba became a point of interest to the public because the United States had less warning time to react to the missile in Cuba (Bouchard). Thanks to the U 2 spy plane the United States was able to detect and act swiftly on the threat by placing Cuba under quarantine with the use of military ships and submarines. The U 2 spy plane has still proven to be useful to the United States during conflict. The U 2 spy plane continues to be useful today.

NASA uses the U 2 spy plane use during the cold war today for high altitude weather monitoring and experimentation. Although the United States Air Forces control all of the U 2 spy planes today and has update much of it system, which are classified. Secret missions are still flown today, such as the U 2 spy plane flying over China. This mission over China is well known to the public because the plane was shot down over China, revealing the mission to the American people and the world.

The U 2 spy plane was also used in the Desert Storm to locate surface-to-air missiles or SAM sites for bombing. Even with the spy satellites in orbit today the U 2 spy plane still has a place in the military. Unfortunately the United States could not take photo underwater so it had to look towards different technologies. Submarines played a pivotal role in the Cold War.

The submarine is a naval vehicle designed to operate underwater. Submarines during the Cold War filled many functions. Submarines became a line of offense and retaliation for the United States and Soviet Union because by the 1950's almost all submarine carried intercontinental ballistic missiles with nuclear warheads that could be launched from any where in the world without surfacing. The tracking and monitoring of Soviet submarines was the main role of submarines during the Cold War (Craven 134). Information about Soviet submarine movements was of the utmost important's because the submarine could launch a missile for anywhere. The submarines use to track these submarines were called fast attacks designated SSN.

All SSN were nuclear power and much quieter than Soviet submarines which gave that United States Navy a tactical advantage. United States submarines shadowed Soviet submarines and ships so that in the case of the launching of a nuclear strike they could be destroyed at a moments notice. Submarines also took part in special operations such as laying the SOSUS during the Cold War. The submarine still plays a major role in military action today. After the end of the Cold War the government cut spending on the military.

Today submarines are falling in numbers after 1989 the submarines were cut in half. Do to the dwindling numbers of submarines according Admiral Frank L. 'Skip' Bowman of the United States Navy has caused an increase work load for all remaining active submarines. Submarines are essential to the United States Navy and allied countries for security, but the numbers keep falling. The submarine appears to have become less valuably during peace time but the number missions requiring submarine are growing. The United States also used other technology underwater to track enemy submarines. The SOSUS provides deep-water and long range detection capability (mostly for Soviet submarines).

SOSUS is an acronym for Sound Surveillance System which is a chain of underwater listening posts mostly along the northern Atlantic near Iceland, Greenland and the United Kingdom. The strategic positioning of the posts was not an accident because the Soviet can only leave there country by way of the northern Atlantic Ocean. A problem later came when the Soviet began to use nuclear submarines thus forcing the United States to update the arrays of the SOSUS, the new arrays help to increase distance and filter out background information. The arrays lead to shore-based monitoring station such as the on in Kef lav " ik, Iceland on the United States Navy-Air Force Base. The SOSUS plays a different role today in the form of research. Today the SOSUS is primarily inactive but some scientific research is being done using the chain of arrays.

The SOSUS has three research goals under the ocean. Most of the research is involved in the vocalizations of whales but the research does not end there; VENTS is the name of the project to study hydrothermal vents and find volcano eruption on the bottom of the sea. "This system has also been used to measure ocean temperatures in relation to climate change. By measuring the travel time of sound waves, the SOSUS system is able record average ocean temperature changes over an ocean basin" ("Sound Surveillance System (SOSUS) "). The military has put the SOSUS in standby status and is maintained by Lucent Technologies and the Military Sea lift Command. Even today the military recognizes the importance of the SOSUS, because Navy Reservists are trained on how to use the equipment even though it is inactive.

During the Cold War the United States developed many technologies, which are still around today, in order to battle Communism in the east. The Cold War made the 50's, 60's, 70's, and 80's one of the most productive times in history. Detection and reconnaissance was vital to the defense of the United States during the Cold War, but today these same technologies have become insignificant during this time of peace. The systems of radars and underwater listening posts, such as NORAD and the SOSUS, were some of the most advanced detection systems of the United States during the Cold War and today. Although these technologies have suffered cut backs by the government, they have found usefulness in today's world through reassessing their mission or in scientific research. The art of reconnaissance changed during the Cold War with the invention of the spy satellite (thank to the space race), the U 2 Spy Plane, and the nuclear powered submarines.

Today much of the photo taken by the United States spy satellites and U 2 Spy Planes are classified but they are still used today as a part of the military and the Center Intelligent Agency to identify threats just as they did during the Cold War; submarines The tracking down and monitoring Soviet submarines movements during the Cold War was one of the major missions of the nuclear submarines, unfortunately today the submarine force of the United States is slowly shrinking do to budget cut with in the military. Fear and uncertainty surrounded the Cold War, however thanks to these technological advancements during the Cold War it helped to keep offensive weapons form being fired and destroying the world. Unfortunately only a few of these technologies have found there way into the world today. The Cold War was a conflict that brought fear to Americans but also brought the United States new technology that is still around today.