How tactical nuclear use at sea could escalate

Why was tactical nuclear use at sea once considered more manageable than nuclear use on land?

Planners initially treated it as a larger tactical weapon in an isolated environment, but reciprocal naval use and attacks on logistics made escalation hard to contain.

A nuclear torpedo or surface-to-air weapon might initially appear to change only the size of the explosion in an isolated maritime battle. Once one side normalizes that use, however, the opponent can answer with nuclear versions of its own naval weapons. Pressure on convoys and ground-force logistics could then connect the supposedly separate naval exchange to nuclear use ashore.