Bangladesh, May 28 -- The Arctic makes a great hiding place for submarines. Sailing under the polar ice caps, subs can avoid detection and attack by surface ships and submarines. For Russia in particular, with much of its navy based in the far north, the Arctic offers its ballistic missile subs a sanctuary from Western sub-hunters.

The problem is, what if a ballistic missile sub actually receives the command to launch its nuclear-tipped ICBMs? The missile can't penetrate the ice, which means the sub must either search for a hole in the ice before it can launch, or sail outside the ice cap. Or, if time is pressing during a nuclear war, the sub can try find a weak spot in the ice cap, attempt to surface, and hope that breaking through the ...