Built for the Cold War. Fired 40 Years Later.

In 1977, the Soviet Navy launched a submarine no American torpedo could reliably catch. Built from titanium, faster than 40 knots and able to dive deeper than any Western boat, the Alfa class could simply outrun the weapons sent to kill it. The United States answered with the Mark 48 ADCAP — a torpedo engineered to outrun, outdive, and outthink the fastest submarine ever built. The Mark 48 was built for a Cold War battle beneath the North Atlantic that was never fought. The Alfa was scrapped; the Soviet Union dissolved; the weapon stayed in the tubes for decades. In March 2026, one was fired in combat for the first time — the first time a U.S. submarine had sunk a ship with a torpedo since 1945. RIGSILENT explores the engineering, history, and psychology of submarines — told with the precision they deserve.