I know that was a rather time worn joke. However in the early years of Soviet Nuclear submarine operations, serious problems occurred aboard Soviet Nuclear powered submarines.
In total 11 different subs were involved with incidence’s of loss of reactor control or loss of primary coolant. In addition 14 different subs had incidents of reactor casualties which resulted in release of radiation into the boat. There are many stories of brave Soviet sailors risking and in some cases sacrificing their lives to save their crew mates at sea to overcome accidents caused by poor designs or shoddy construction. Some times there is a kernel of truth in jokes.
~I know that was a rather time worn joke. However in the early years of Soviet Nuclear submarine operations, serious problems occurred aboard Soviet Nuclear powered submarines.~
Well between late 1950s and mid 1980s Russian Navy commissioned an average one nuclear submarine every few weeks. In made enormously huge fleet which is statistically more prone to isolated incidents.
Not to mention that the United States were first in this technology which was a challenge for an emerging MAD doctrine, so communists urged shipyards to bring compatible ships in a matter of months since they have realized the threat.
It is not surprising that the first subs were more a death traps than effective warships. They were neither engineered nor tested, but basically a WWII U-boats with reactors installed.