A
cruise missile submarine is a submarine that can launch
cruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb. Cruise missiles are generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many...
s.
SSGN is the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
hull classification symbolThe United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...
for a
nuclear-poweredNuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship powered by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships .-Power plants:...
cruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb. Cruise missiles are generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many...
submarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability...
. The
SS denotes "Ship, Submersible" (i.e. submarine), the
G denotes "
guided missileGuided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of considered and quality releases and developing the numerous and now essential GMevents around London and...
," and the
N denotes "nuclear powered."
The first SSGN in the U.S. Navy was . She was built to launch the nuclear Regulus Missile in the 1950s. When the Regulus program ended in 1964, she became SSN-587.
The U.S.
A
cruise missile submarine is a submarine that can launch
cruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb. Cruise missiles are generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many...
s.
SSGN is the
United States NavyThe United States Navy is the sea branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. It is one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. As of 31 December 2008, the U.S. Navy had about 331,682 personnel on active duty and 124,000 in the Navy Reserve. It operates 283 ships in active service and more than...
hull classification symbolThe United States Navy, United States Coast Guard, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use hull classification symbols to identify their ship types and each individual ship within each type...
for a
nuclear-poweredNuclear marine propulsion is propulsion of a ship powered by a nuclear reactor. Naval nuclear propulsion is propulsion that specifically refers to naval warships .-Power plants:...
cruise missileA cruise missile is a guided missile that carries an explosive payload and uses a lifting wing and a propulsion system, usually a jet engine, to allow sustained flight; it is essentially a flying bomb. Cruise missiles are generally designed to carry a large conventional or nuclear warhead many...
submarineA submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has only limited underwater capability...
. The
SS denotes "Ship, Submersible" (i.e. submarine), the
G denotes "
guided missileGuided Missile is a London based independent record label set up by Paul Kearney in 1994.Guided Missile has always focused on 'the underground', preferring to put out a steady flow of considered and quality releases and developing the numerous and now essential GMevents around London and...
," and the
N denotes "nuclear powered."
U.S. Navy
The first SSGN in the U.S. Navy was . She was built to launch the nuclear Regulus Missile in the 1950s. When the Regulus program ended in 1964, she became SSN-587.
The U.S. Navy modified the four oldest
TridentThe Trident missile is a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle submarine-launched ballistic missile designed by Lockheed Martin Space Systems in the United States which is armed with nuclear warheads and is launched from nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines...
submarines to SSGN configuration. This was achieved in 2002 to 2008 by the installation of
vertical launching systemA vertical launching system is a type of missile-firing system used aboard the submarines and surface vessels of several navies around the world....
s (VLS) in a configuration dubbed "multiple all-up-round canister (MAC)", which equips 22 of the 24 missile tubes, which previously held one large nuclear strategic ballistic missile, with 7 smaller Tomahawk cruise missiles. The 2 remaining tubes are converted to lock out chambers (LOC) to be used by
special forcesSpecial forces and special operations forces are generic terms for elite highly-trained military teams/units that conduct specialized operations such as reconnaissance, unconventional warfare, direct action and counter-terrorism actions.In the United States, the term special operations forces is...
personnel who can be carried on board. This gives each converted sub the capability to carry up to 154 Tomahawk missiles. The MAC tubes can also be used to carry and launch
UAVsAn unmanned aerial vehicle is an aircraft that flies without a human crew. Their largest uses are in military applications. To distinguish UAVs from missiles, a UAV is defined as a reusable, uncrewed vehicle capable of controlled, sustained, level flight and powered by a jet or reciprocating...
or
UUVsUnmanned underwater vehicles can be divided into two categories:* Remotely operated underwater vehicles , controlled by a remote human operator* Autonomous underwater vehicles , which operate independently of direct human input....
which give the ship remote controlled "eyes & ears" allowing the ship to act as a forward-deployed command & control center. If the maximum of 154 Tomahawk missiles were loaded, one
Ohio class SSGN would carry an entire Battle Group's equivalent of cruise missiles. Despite the increase in stand-off strike capabilities, this conversion counts as an arms reduction against the
START IISTART II, the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, which was signed by United States President George H. W. Bush and Russian President Boris Yeltsin on January 3, 1993, banned the use of MIRVs on ICBMs and is hence often cited as the De-MIRV-ing Agreement.MIRVed land-based ICBMs are considered...
treaty (because it reduces the number of nuclear weapons that are forward-deployed).
Ohio (SSGN-726)USS Ohio , the lead ship of her class of nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarines, was the fourth ship of the United States Navy to be named for the 17th state...
completed its conversion and began
sea trialA sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft . It is also referred as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and can last from a few hours to many days.Sea trials are conducted to measure a vessel’s performance...
s in early 2006. Since that time, , , and the have rejoined the fleet in the new configuration.
Florida conducted the initial testing required to determine whether the SSGN implementation was feasible. This included the first launching of a Tomahawk missile from the SSGN platform
.
Russian/Soviet Navy
The
Soviet NavyThe Soviet Navy was the naval part of the Soviet Armed Forces. Often referred to as the Red Fleet, the Soviet Navy would have been instrumental in any perceived Warsaw Pact role in an all-out war with NATO when it would have to stop the naval convoys bringing reinforcements over the Atlantic to...
had several submarines that were called SSGNs by Western observers. These were armed with
anti-ship missileAnti-ship missiles are guided missiles designed for use against ships. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming type and use a combination of inertial guidance and radar homing...
s such as the SS-N-19 or land attack missiles. They were given the NATO reporting names
GolfProject 629, also known by the NATO reporting name of Golf class, were diesel electric ballistic missile submarines of the Soviet Navy. They were designed after six Zulu class submarines were successfully modified to carry and launch Scud missiles...
,
EchoThe Echo class submarines were nuclear cruise missile submarines of the Soviet Navy built during the 1960's. Their Soviet designation was Project 659 class for the first five vessels, and Project 675 for the following twenty-nine...
,
YankeeThe Yankee class is the NATO classification for a type of nuclear-powered submarine that was constructed by the Soviet Union from 1968 onward. 34 units were produced under Project 667A Navaga and Project 667AU Nalim...
,
CharlieThe Charlie I class submarine is a Cruise missile submarine. The Charlie I class submarine SSGN was first launched at the inland shipyard at Gorkiy in 1967 with another 10 following over a period of 5 years...
and
OscarThe Project 949 and Project 949A Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines are known in the West by their NATO reporting names, the Oscar-I and Oscar-II classes, respectively....
.
Today the Russian Navy operates 8-10
Oscar class submarineThe Project 949 and Project 949A Soviet Navy/Russian Navy cruise missile submarines are known in the West by their NATO reporting names, the Oscar-I and Oscar-II classes, respectively....
s which carry the SS-N-19 long range anti-ship missile.
See also
- SSG
- SSN
- SSBN
A ballistic missile submarine is a submarine equipped to launch ballistic missiles .-Description:Ballistic missile submarines are larger than any other type of submarine, in order to accommodate SLBMs such as the Russian R-29 or the American Trident...
- List of NATO reporting names for guided missile submarines
External links