Nuclear submarines become true undersea predators

Second World War boats usually traveled on the surface and submerged to ambush, making them submersible torpedo boats in operational practice. Nuclear propulsion moved a submarine's normal operating world underwater. Sandblast publicly demonstrated that change before another navy could claim the achievement. The passage compares that transition with the emerging use of uncrewed underwater partners, which could turn one crewed submarine into the center of a dispersed pack. Such teaming would have to avoid the constant coordination that once exposed conventional wolf packs.