Email from a retired Army colonel who took a field trip to King's Bay last year and toured an Ohio Class sub. He asked the Commander how many subs it would take to eliminate all hostile territories in the Middle East, and the commander answered, “ Just one.” The sub is a bit claustrophobic, but crew is highly trained and organized. Their bunks are located between the silos. Obviously, there is no drinking or smoking on board.
The U.S. Navy has 18 of the most deadly and feared weapons ever created.
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Let’s look at some facts about America’s last line of Defense…the “Boomers”.
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Meet the Ohio-class submarine. In naval terms, it makes up the Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines (FBMs).
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Aside from USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN-730),
all of the Ohio-class subs are named after a state.
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These 18 weapons are also known as “Trident” subs because they’re a part of America’s “Nuclear Triad”.
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The Nuclear Triad is our Military’s 3-prong nuclear weapons delivery arsenal which covers Land, Air and Sea.
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Air: Strategic Bombers (the B-52 Stratofortress, B-1 Lancer and B-2 Spirit-pictured above)
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Land: Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMs such as the Minuteman III-pictured above)
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Why do we have a 3-branches of nuclear capabilities?
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It reduces the chances that another country’s first-strike attack could destroy all of our nuclear delivery system.
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This means that, in a worst case scenario (nuclear war)…
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…America has the ability to launch a second attack.
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What weapon can lurk anywhere in 2/3rds of the Earth?
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You got it man, our Ohio-class subs.
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To be specific, the Earth’s surface is made up of 71 percent ocean water (97% of total water on the planet).
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Aside from the ocean our subs can also enter fresh water such as our Great Lakes (which already has US Navy’s USS Kentucky SSBN-737 and other smaller Los Angeles-class Attack Submarines).
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With such a massive expanse, it is simple to understand why the Ohio-class is so feared.
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However, there are more logistics to this equation.
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Starting with its power source.
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They are powered by an internal S8G PWR nuclear reactor that turns the sub’s 2 turbines which drive the rear propeller shaft.
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An Ohio-class has unlimited range with one exception…it is limited to the vessel’s supply of food for the crew.
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Other than food, she can produce her own oxygen and water supply for its crew.
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It actually moves faster under water than on the surface.
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Surfaced – max speed of 14 mph
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Submerged – 23 mph officially but unofficially, it’s been reported to move up to 29 mph
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It takes a crew of 15 Officers and 140 Enlisted Personnel to operate the sub.
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Each Ohio-class sub has two crews called the “Blue” and “Gold”.
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Typically, one of these teams will patrol for around 3-months and then come back to port where the sub is resupplied and the other crew goes directly back out to Sea.
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This on going swap is VERY POWERFUL ELEMENT.
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What it means is, these subs (with the exception of re-supply time) are operating underwater year-round.
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Ohio-class along with our Navy’s smaller Attack subs are nearly impossible for our adversaries to locate.
But they know one thing…
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18 Ohio-class subs are lurking somewhere around the world.
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Now for the firepower.
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For defensive/offensive attack abilities against other subs, all 18 have four 533mm Mark 48 torpedo tubes.
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Mark 48 torpedos have an effective range (officially) “greater than 5 miles”.
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Depending on depth of launch, they travel at speeds up to 63 mph and detonate using a proximity fuze (when the torpedo senses the opponent’s sub/ship).
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