Fleet Ballistic Submarines

The U.S. Navy has two principal classes of submarines: attack submarines and fleet ballistic missile submarines. Attack submarines, which seek out and attack enemy ships and submarines, are smaller and faster than missile submarines. Most U.S. fast attack submarines are of the USS Los Angeles class. They are 362 feet long-just longer than the length of a football field-and 33 feet wide. They displace almost 6,900 tons on the surface and 7,200 tons when they are submerged. U.S. fleet ballistic missile submarines of the USS Ohio class (a.k.a., Trident submarines, referring to the type of missile which they carry) are 560 feet long (almost the length of two football fields, a few feet longer than the Washington Monument). They have a beam of 42 feet and displace almost 17,000 tons on the surface and 18,750 tons when submerged.

Fleet ballistic missile submarines (designated as “SSBNs”) carry long-range nuclear warhead missiles. They roam the ocean avoiding contact with other submarines and surface ships. The ability of the fleet ballistic missile submarine to survive a nuclear attack against the United States made them the most credible nuclear deterrent during the Cold War. Fortunately, the threat of nuclear retaliation that U.S. missile submarines have represented continues to be an effective deterrent in preventing nuclear missile attacks on the U.S.

The SSBN fleet consists of 18 Ohio-class subs built between 1981 and 1997. The crew for each includes 169 people. Each sub has 4 torpedo tubes and carries 24 Trident ballistic missiles. There are always six SSBNs at sea, although they are not always on alert. Four of the submarines are losing their nuclear weapons due to U.S. treaty obligations. The Navy came up with a plan to replace the nuclear weapons on these submarines with 154 tomahawk missiles, space for Navy Seal landing craft and mini-subs with launch capability.

Submarines, their Officers, and their crews are heavily relied upon for antisubmarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, land attack, strategic deterrence, and landing Special Warfare forces, to name but a few of the many exciting missions. Standards for submariners are very high, and operations are often covert and classified.

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