Function: America's current Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine.





Description: Since the first Poseidon submarines took to the seas in 1960, the sole purpose of the Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine has been strategic deterrence. Given their wide operational area (70% of the world's surface is covered by water) the SSBN represents the most survivable and unreachable "leg" of America's land, sea, and air nuclear deterrence tripod. Built to accommodate the Improved Trident I ballistic missile and relying on advances pioneered by the Narwhal's natural circulation reactor as well as the advanced sensor capabilities of the Los Angeles class fast attack submarines, the Ohio class SSBNs are the most advanced ballistic missile submarines in the world. Virtually undetectable at operating speed and depth, the Ohio class SSBN can maneuver with impunity through the world's oceans and given the submarine's sensory capabilities an Ohio class boat will detect and maneuver around any threat long before the threat can acquire the SSBN. Of the eighteen Ohio class SSBNs currently in service, the first eight were designed to fire 24 Trident I Submarine Launched Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (SLICBM) each of which carries 10 Multiple Independent Reentry Vehicle (MIRV) warheads. The remaining ten were designed to carry the more powerful Trident II SLICBM each of which carries 12 MIRVs. Current Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT) conditions limit the number of MIRVs to eight per missile. In 1992 the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II) was signed, limiting member nations to 14 SSBNs each. As a result, only four of the original eight will be backfitted with the Trident II missile, while the rest will either be converted to SSGN cruise missile boats, Special Operations support ships (similar to the SSN640 class) or decommissioned.





General Characteristics, Ohio Class



Builders:

General Dynamics Electric Boat Division





Power Plant:

One S8G nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, one shaft, 60,000 shaft horsepower





Date Deployed:

November 11, 1981 (USS Ohio)





Length, Overall:

560 feet (170.69 meters)





Beam:

42 feet (12.80 meters)





Displacement:

18,750 long tons (19,000.1 metric tons) submerged





Speed:

20+ knots (23.02+ miles per hour, 37.05 +kph)





Crew:

15 Officers; 140 Enlisted





Armament:

Mk 48 ADCAP Torpedoes, launched from four 533mm torpedo tubes







Radar:

1 AN/BPS-15 navigation and fire control radar





Sonar:

One TB-16 passive towed sonar array



One AN/BQR-19 navigation sonar



One AN/BQQ-6 low frequency spherical bow sonar array



One AN/BQS-13 active sonar





Optics:

One Type 2 attack periscope



One Type 18 search periscope





Countermeasures:

WLR-10 acoustic intercept receiver



WLR-8 surveillance reciever



WLY-1 acoustic countermeasures system



Mk 2 torpedo decoy









Ships:



Homeported at the Naval Submarine Base, Bangor, WA:

USS Ohio (SSBN-726)

USS Michigan (SSBN-727)

USS Florida (SSBN-728)

USS Georgia (SSBN-729)

USS Henry M. Jackson (SSBN-730)

USS Alabama (SSBN-731)

USS Alaska (SSBN 732)

USS Nevada (SSBN 733) I



Homeported at the Naval Submarine Base, Kings Bay, GA:

USS Tennessee (SSBN-734)

USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735)

USS West Virginia (SSBN-736)

USS Kentucky (SSBN-737)

USS Maryland (SSBN-738)

USS Nebraska (SSBN-739)

USS Rhode Island (SSBN-740)

USS Maine (SSBN-741)

USS Wyoming (SSBN-742)

USS Louisiana (SSBN-743)