~Never has been. You could always spot a Soviet submariner by the fact he was bald and sterile.~
LOL. It is a popular myth in Russia too, but it barely projects into reality.
I had a classmate who dreamed to be a submariner since 5th grade despite a fact that Navy is not as popular as Army and Air Force (if you opted for Navy you had to serve compulsory 3 years instead of two for other branches at the time).
Not only he served his compulsory term on a nuke sub, he also signed a contract and sailed another year.
He should have spend longer in Navy if not for his mother who had enormous influence with him.
He was of Jewish ancestry, his family had extensive (relatively) jewelry business here and they thought his military service was a kind of protest against the family. She was a kind of annoyance for other kids and officers and she has finally forced him to resign aged 22.
Why am I talking about it? We have laughed that he might have left his balls on the boat or fed to the fishes but he got married and had four children before 26.
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.