Aballistic missile submarine is asubmarine capable of deployingsubmarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) withnuclear warheads. These submarines became a major weapon system in theCold War because of theirnuclear deterrence capability. They can fire missiles thousands of kilometers from their targets, andacoustic quieting makes them difficult to detect (seeacoustic signature), thus making them a survivable deterrent in the event of afirst strike and a key element of themutual assured destruction policy of nuclear deterrence. Of course, nuclear-powered submarines carrying nuclear missiles can also be used for asplendid first strike as well. For this reasons, 70% of nuclear warheads in the USA are carried by ballistic missile submarines.[1]
The deployment of ballistic missile submarines is dominated by theUnited States,Russia (following the collapse of theSoviet Union) andChina. Smaller numbers are in service withFrance, theUnited Kingdom andIndia.
North Korea is also suspected to have an experimental submarine that is diesel-electric powered.[2][3]
Ballistic missile submarines should be distinguished from so-callednuclear submarines, which does not refer to a submarine carrying nuclear weapons, but instead refers to submarines with anuclear propulsion engine.
The first sea-based missile deterrent forces were a small number of conventionally poweredcruise missile submarines and surface ships fielded by the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s, deploying theRegulus I missile and the SovietP-5 Pyatyorka (also known by itsNATO reporting name SS-N-3 Shaddock), both land attackcruise missiles that could belaunched from surfaced submarines. Although these forces served until 1964 and (on the Soviet side) were augmented by the nuclear-poweredProject 659 (Echo I class) cruise-missile submarines, they were rapidly eclipsed by SLBMs carried by nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines beginning in 1960.[4]
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Imperial Japanese NavyI-400-class submarines are considered the strategic predecessors to today's ballistic submarines, especially to the Regulus missile program, which began about a decade after World War II.[5]
During World War II, German researchers developed theA4 (V2), the first ballistic missile. Toward the end of the war, a V2 version was developed at thePeenemünde Army Research Station to be towed in a launch container behind a submarine. Each submarine was to tow up to three of these 36-meter containers, manned by ten soldiers, through theNorth Sea. OffEngland, the container would have been brought to the surface and the missiles fired. Prototypes were already being tested on theBaltic coast before the project had to be abandoned in 1945 with the evacuation ofPeenemünde. Three containers were already under construction at that time. The commander of the Army Experimental Station,Walter Dornberger, described the project as "not unpromising".[6]
The first nation to field ballistic missile submarines was the Soviet Union, whose first experimental vessel was a convertedProject 611 (Zulu IV class) diesel-powered submarine equipped with a single ballistic missile launch tube in its sail. This submarine launched the world's first SLBM, anR-11FM (SS-N-1 Scud-A, naval modification of SS-1Scud) on 16 September 1955.[7]
Five additional Project V611 and AV611 (Zulu V class) boats became the world's first operational ballistic submarines with two R-11FM missiles each, entering service in 1956–57.[8] They were followed by a series of 23 specifically designedProject 629 (Golf class) boats, completed 1958–1962, with three vertical launch tubes incorporated in the sail/fin of each submarine.[9] The initialR-13 (SS-N-4) ballistic missiles could only be launched with the submarine on the surface and the missile raised to the top of the launch tube, but were followed byR-21 (SS-N-5) missiles beginning in 1963, which were launched with the submarine submerged.
The world's first operational nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine wasUSS George Washington (SSBN-598) with 16Polaris A-1 missiles, which entered service in December 1959 and conducted the first SSBN deterrent patrol November 1960 – January 1961.[10] (TheUnited States Navy'shull classification symbols for nuclear ballistic missile submarines areSSBN – theSS denotes submarine, theB denotesballistic missile, and theN denotes that the submarine isnuclear powered.[11]) The Polaris missile and the first US SSBNs were developed by a Special Project office under Rear AdmiralW. F. "Red" Raborn, appointed byChief of Naval Operations AdmiralArleigh Burke.George Washington was redesigned and rebuilt early in construction from aSkipjack-class fast attack submarine, USSScorpion, with a 130 ft (40 m) missile compartment welded into the middle. Nuclear power was a crucial advance, allowing a ballistic missile submarine to remain undetected at sea by remaining submerged or occasionally atperiscope depth (50 to 55 ft (15 to 17 m)) for an entire patrol.
A significant difference between US and Soviet SLBMs was the fuel type; all US SLBMs have been solid fueled while all Soviet SLBMs before 1980 were liquid fueled. The USSR and subsequently Russia deployed three different SLBM types with solid fuel (R-31 in 1980,R-39 Rif in 1983, andRSM-56 Bulava in 2018). However, these did not replace liquid-fueled SLBMs in service, and new liquid-fueled SLBMs were developed and introduced (R-29RM introduced in 1986,R-29RMU introduced in 2007) after deployment of the R-31 and R-39.
With more missiles on one US SSBN than on five Golf-class boats, the Soviets rapidly fell behind in sea-based deterrent capability. The Soviets were only a year behind the US with their first nuclear powered ballistic missile boat, theill-fatedK-19 ofProject 658 (Hotel class), commissioned in November 1960. However, this class carried the same three-missile armament as the Golfs. The first Soviet nuclear submarine with 16 missiles was theProject 667A (Yankee class), the first of which entered service in 1967, by which time the US had already commissioned 41 SSBNs, nicknamed the "41 for Freedom".[12][13]
The United Kingdom's first nuclear ballistic missile submarine was theResolution-class of four submarines built for theRoyal Navy as part of theUK Polaris programme. The first to be completed wasResolution, laid down in February 1964 and launched in September 1966. After commissioning in 1967, a period of sea trials followed, culminating in the test firing of a Polaris missile from theUSAF Eastern Test Range offCape Kennedy in February 1968.Resolution commenced her first operational patrol in June 1968.
France's first nuclear ballistic submarine followed very closely. The first French SLBM submarine,LeRedoutable was laid down in 1964 inCherbourg and launched in March 1967.Le Redoutable entered operational service in December 1971 and was the first of a series of 6 ships, with a 7,500-ton displacement and equipped with 16 French-madeM1 missiles.
The short range of the early SLBMs dictated basing and deployment locations. By the late 1960s theUGM-27 Polaris A-3 missile was deployed on all US and UK ballistic missile submarines. Its range of 4,600 kilometres (2,500 nmi) was a great improvement on the 1,900-kilometre (1,000 nmi) range of Polaris A-1. The A-3 also had three warheads that landed in a pattern around a single target.[14][15] The Yankee class was initially equipped with theR-27 Zyb (SS-N-6) missile with a range of 2,400 kilometres (1,300 nmi).
The US was much more fortunate in its basing arrangements than the Soviets. Thanks toNATO and the US possession ofGuam, US SSBNs were permanently forward deployed at Advanced Refit Sites inHoly Loch,Scotland andRota, Spain forAtlantic andMediterranean areas, and Guam for thePacific areas, by the middle 1960s resulting in short transit times to patrol areas near the Soviet Union. With two rotating crews per SSBN, about one-third of the total US force could be in a patrol area at any time. The Soviet bases, inSeveromorsk nearMurmansk for the Atlantic and thePetropavlovsk-Kamchatsky area for the Pacific, required their submarines to make a long transit through NATO-monitored waters in the Atlantic to their mid-ocean patrol areas to hold theContinental United States (CONUS) at risk.
SSBN submarine missions usually last for approximately 6 months (the maximum duration is limited by the supply of food and other consumables that can be carried on board, as well as crew endurance, rather than by the amount of the nuclear fuel on board) and occurs with 18 months maintenance and repair breaks.[1] Such relatively short (6 months) mission duration resulted in only a small percentage of the Soviet force occupying patrol areas at any time and was a great motivation for longer-range Soviet SLBMs, which would allow them to patrol close to their bases in areas sometimes referred to as "deep bastions". The missiles were theR-29 Vysota series (SS-N-8, SS-N-18, SS-N-23), equipped onProjects 667B, 667BD, 667BDR, and 667BDRM (Delta I through Delta IV classes).[16] The SS-N-8, with a range of 7,700 kilometres (4,200 nmi), entered service on the first Delta-I boat in 1972, before the Yankee class was even completed. A total of 43 Delta-class boats of all types entered service 1972–1990, with the SS-N-18 on the Delta III class and theR-29RM Shtil (SS-N-23) on the Delta IV class.[17][18][19][20] The new missiles had increased range and eventually Multiple Independently Targeted Re-entry Vehicles (MIRV), multiple warheads that could each hit a different target.[16]
The Delta I class had 12 missiles each; the others have 16 missiles each. All Deltas have a tall superstructure (aka casing) to accommodate their large liquid-fueled missiles.
Although the US did not commission any new SSBNs from 1967 through 1981, they did introduce two new SLBMs. Thirty-one of the 41 original US SSBNs were built with larger diameter launch tubes with future missiles in mind. In the early 1970s thePoseidon (C-3) missile entered service, and those 31 SSBNs were backfitted with it.[21] Poseidon offered a massive MIRV capability of up to 14 warheads per missile. Like the Soviets, the US also desired a longer-range missile that would allow SSBNs to be based in CONUS. In the late 1970s theTrident I (C-4) missile was backfitted to 12 of the Poseidon-equipped submarines.[22][23] The SSBN facilities of the base at Rota, Spain were disestablished and theNaval Submarine Base King's Bay inGeorgia was built for the Trident I-equipped force.
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Both the United States and the Soviet Union commissioned larger submarines designed for new missiles in 1981. The American large SSBN was theOhio class, also called the "Trident submarine", with the largest SSBN armament ever of 24 missiles, initially Trident I but built with much larger tubes for theTrident II (D-5) missile, which entered service in 1990.[24][25] The entire class was converted to use Trident II by the early 2000s. When theUSS Ohio commenced sea trials in 1980, two USBenjamin Franklin-class SSBNs had their missiles removed to comply withSALT treaty requirements; the remaining eight were converted toattack submarines (SSN) by the end of 1982. These were all in the Pacific, and the Guam SSBN base was disestablished; the first severalOhio-class boats used new Trident facilities atNaval Submarine Base Bangor,Washington. EighteenOhio-class boats were commissioned by 1997,[26] four of which were converted tocruise missile submarines (SSGN) in the 2000s to comply withSTART I treaty requirements.
The Soviet large nuclear ballistic missile submarine was theProject 941Akula, more famously known as the Typhoon class (and not to be confused with theProject 971Shchuka attack submarine, called "Akula" by NATO). The Typhoons were the largest submarines ever built, at 48,000 tons submerged (more than 2½ times the displacement of theOhio-class). They were armed with 20 of the newR-39 Rif (SS-N-20) missiles. Six Typhoons were commissioned 1981–1989.[27]
The United Kingdom commissioned the 15,600-tonVanguard-class submarine in 1985, to carry up to 16 Trident II missiles. France commissioned in 1997 the 12,600-tonTriomphant-class submarine, equipped with up to 16 French-madeM45 missiles.
With thecollapse of the Soviet Union and the end of theCold War in 1991, construction of new nuclear submarines by Russia was put on hold for over ten years and was slowed in the United States. Additionally the US rapidly decommissioned its 31 older remaining SSBNs, with a few converted to other roles, and the base at Holy Loch in Scotland was disestablished. Most of the former Soviet nuclear submarine force was gradually scrapped under the provisions of theNunn–Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction agreement through 2012.[28]
The Russian ballistic missile submarine force then stood at six Delta IVs, three Delta IIIs, and a lone Typhoon used as a testbed for new missiles (the R-39s unique to the Typhoons were reportedly scrapped in 2012). Upgraded missiles such as theR-29RMU Sineva (SS-N-23 Sineva) were developed for the Deltas. In 2013 the Russians commissioned the firstBorei-class submarine, also called theDolgorukiy class after the lead vessel. By 2015 two others had entered service. This class is intended to replace the aging Deltas, and carries 16 solid-fuelRSM-56 Bulava missiles, with a reported range of 10,000 kilometres (5,400 nmi) and six MIRV warheads. The USColumbia-class submarine is set to replace theOhio-class, with construction beginning in 2020.
The United Kingdom and France are set to replace in the early 2030s their current fleets composed respectively ofVanguard andTriomphant with third generationDreadnought and unnamedSNLE 3G SLBMs.
In 2009,India launched the first of its indigenously builtArihant-class submarines.[29] The submarines are armed withK15 andK-4ballistic missiles. Follow on variants with longer range ballistic missiles calledK-5 andK6 are in works.
North Korea test-fired ballistic missiles from submarines in 2021[30] and 2022.[3]
Ballistic missile submarines differ in purpose from attack submarines and cruise missile submarines. Attack submarines specialize in combat with other vessels (including enemy submarines and merchant shipping), and cruise missile submarines are designed to attack large warships and tactical targets on land. However, the primary mission of the ballistic missile boat isnuclear deterrence. They serve as the third leg of thenuclear triad in countries that also operate nuclear-armed land based missiles and aircraft. Accordingly, the mission profile of a ballistic missile submarine concentrates on remaining undetected, rather than aggressively pursuing other vessels.[31]
Ballistic missile submarines are designed forstealth to avoid detection at all costs, and that makes nuclear power, allowing almost the entire patrol to be conducted submerged, very important. They also use many sound-reducing design features, such asanechoic tiles on their hull surfaces, carefully designed propulsion systems, and machinery mounted on vibration-damping mounts. The invisibility and mobility of nuclear ballistic missile submarines offer a reliable means of deterrence against an attack (by maintaining the threat of asecond strike), as well as a potential surprisefirst strike capability.[31]
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In most cases, nuclear ballistic missile submarines generally resemble attack subs of the same generation, with extra length to accommodate SLBMs, such as the RussianR-29 (SS-N-23) or theNATO-fielded and American-manufacturedPolaris,Poseidon, andTrident-II missiles. Some early models had to surface to launch their missiles, but modern vessels typically launch while submerged atkeel depths of usually less than 50 metres (160 ft). Missiles are launched upwards with an initial velocity sufficient for them to pop above the surface, at which point their rocket motors fire, beginning the characteristic parabolic climb-from-launch of a ballistic missile. Compressed air ejection, later replaced by gas-steam ejection, was developed by Captain Harry Jackson of Rear AdmiralRaborn's Special Project Office when a proposed missile elevator proved too complex.[32] Jackson also derived the armament of 16 missiles used in many SSBNs for theGeorge Washington class in 1957, based on a compromise between firepower and hull integrity.[33]
In the US Navy, SSBNs are sometimes called Fleet Ballistic Missile submarines, or FBMs. InUS naval slang, ballistic missile submarines are calledboomers. In the UK, they are known asbombers.[34] In both cases, SSBN submarines operate on a two-crew concept, with two complete crews – including two captains – calledGold andBlue in the United States,Starboard andPort in the United Kingdom. The designationSSBN is also used throughout NATO under STANAG 1166.[35]
TheFrench Navy commissioned its first ballistic missile submarines asSNLE, forSous-marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins (lit. "nuclear-powered device-launching submarines"). The term applies both to ballistic missile submarines in general (for instance "British SNLE" occurs[36]) and, more technically, as a specific classification of theRedoutable class. Its successor, theTriomphant class, is referred to as SNLE-NG (Nouvelle Génération, "New Generation"). The two crews used to maximise the availability time of the boats are calledbleu (blue) androuge (red) crews.
The Soviets called this type of shipRPKSN[37] (lit. "Strategic Purpose Underwater Missile Cruiser"). This designation was applied to theTyphoon class. Another designation used wasPLARB(«ПЛАРБ» – подводная лодка атомная с баллистическими ракетами, which translates as "Nuclear Submarine with Ballistic Missiles"). This designation was applied to smaller submarines such as the Delta class. After a peak in 1984 (followingAble Archer 83), Russian PLARB deterrence patrols have declined to the point where there is less than one patrol per sub each year and at best one sub on patrol at any time. Hence the Russians did not use multiple crews per boat.[38] However, the situation changed ca.
India classifies this type of a submarine as aStrategic Strike Nuclear Submarine.[39]
| country | Submarines are made in | Submarines are stationed in | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| China | Bohai Shipyard,Huludao | Yulin Naval Base,Jianggezhuang Naval Base | |
| France | Cherbourg | Brest | |
| India | Naval Dockyard (Visakhapatnam) | INS Varsha | |
| Russia | Severodvinsk | Severomorsk | |
| Russia | Komsomolsk-na-Amure | Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy | |
| UK | BAE Systems Submarines | HMNB Clyde, Scotland | |
| United States | Groton, CT | Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, GA | |
| United States | ? | Naval Base Kitsap, WA |
Nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine:
China
France
India
Russia
United Kingdom
United StatesAIP based ballistic missile submarine:
North Korea
South Korea (non-nuclear-armed)FranceChinaIndia
United KingdomUnited StatesRussiaFrance
/Soviet Union /RussiaUnited KingdomUnited StatesOn 4 February 2009, the BritishHMS Vanguard and the FrenchTriomphant collided in the Atlantic.[56]Vanguard returned toFaslane in Scotland, under her own power,[57] andTriomphant toÎle Longue in Brittany.
