Soviet Admiral Sorokin Claims U.S. Let Down British Missile Allies

By Eleanor Voss · August 9, 2026

Soviet sailors became global predators capable of striking continents, as the U.S. used Poseidon missiles with 10 warheads to penetrate defenses.

A second edition of 100,000 copies was signed to press on February 3, 1972. The book, We Are from the Nuclear Submarines, was written by Vice Adm Anatoliy Ivanovich Sorokin, a "Hero of the Soviet Union." As recorded in a JPRS translation dated November 10, 1972, found in the CIA FOIA Electronic Reading Room, the volume was designed to be an inspiration for "young boys dreaming of a life at sea" and professional sailors alike.

For a man who spent two decades in the war-plan archives of Strategic Air Command, reading the excerpts of Sorokin's memoir is a lesson in the intersection of technical evolution and state mythology. Sorokin does not merely describe ships; he describes the "stern romance" of a navy that had transitioned from the diesel-electric limitations of the Great Patriotic War to the terrifying autonomy of the atom. He frames this transition not just as a scientific victory, but as a necessity of the struggle against "the aggressiveness of the imperialist powers, and the United States in particular."

"The Westerners Shall Not Pass"

Sorokin’s prose is heavily salted with the ideological requirements of the era. He cites the 24th CPSU Congress, noting that the Soviet Union would maintain a "resolute struggle against imperialism" and a "firm resistance to aggressor intrigues." This is the environment in which the nuclear submarine is presented as the "principal naval striking force in a modern war."

There is a carefully curated tension in the text. Sorokin asserts, "We have never attacked first... But if we are attacked -- our response will be devastating..." It is the standard dialectic of deterrence: a claim of peace backed by the promise of total annihilation. To the Soviet reader in 1972, the nuclear submarine was the ultimate guarantor of this peace, a "backbone of the navy" capable of crossing oceans at great speed to strike an entire continent.

Teardrops and Dolphins

Beyond the rhetoric, the record provides a blunt look at the evolution of Soviet undersea design. Sorokin describes the early "diving" submarines—vessels that were essentially surface ships that could submerge briefly for an attack. These "cigar-shaped" hulls had a surfaced range of 12,000-20,000 nautical miles but were sluggish underwater, with cruising speeds of only 8-14 knots and a maximum dive depth of 100-120 meters.

The arrival of nuclear propulsion changed the physics of the hunt. Sorokin notes that the "greatest influence" on the ships was the need for speed and maneuverability. The designers looked to nature, specifically the shapes of whales and dolphins. This led to the adoption of the "teardrop" shape, which Sorokin claims provided minimum resistance when moving through liquid.

Because nuclear plants do not require atmospheric oxygen, the submarine was transformed from a vessel that periodically submerged into a "genuine submarine capable of remaining under water indefinitely." The limit was no longer fuel or air, but the "physical stamina of the crew." This capability allowed for the "world-girdling voyage" mentioned in the text—a feat of endurance and projection that served as a signal to the West that the Soviet Navy had ceased to be a coastal defense force and had become a global predator.

Poseidon and Polaris

Perhaps the most interesting portion of the excerpts is Sorokin’s analysis of Western capabilities. He focuses on the transition from the Polaris system to the Poseidon missile. In the view of the Soviet Navy, the Polaris system had become "obsolete" due to the rapid development of antimissile defense systems.

Sorokin highlights the Poseidon's "cassette" warhead, which contained as many as 10 separate warheads instead of a single 500-kiloton warhead. The logic was simple: smaller, multiple warheads had a "better capability of penetrating an antimissile defense system." He takes a particular interest in the geopolitical friction this caused, claiming the United States had "let down" its British allies by moving toward Poseidon while the British submarine program remained based on the Polaris A-3.

Sorokin concludes his technical overview with a description of the strike sequence. He describes how a submerged submarine receives a launch signal and initiates the automatic preparation of systems. He notes that the pressure inside the launch tube is equalized with the pressure outside, the hatches open, and electronic computers compute the firing data. The missiles then rise to the surface and emerge in a vertical path, after which instruments guide them to a target that may be thousands of kilometers distant.