US Regulus Missile Program
General Characteristics, Halibut
Builder: Mare Island
Naval Shipyard
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, two shafts
Length: 350 feet
Beam: 29 feet
Displacement: Approx. 3602 tons
Crew: 9 Officers, 108 Enlisted
Armament: Four torpedo tubes forward. Regulus missile system. (The "G" stands for guided missle) This missile system later proved to be unsatisfactory due to improvements in ballistic missile technology. Armament: Four torpedo tubes forward.
Ships:
USS Halibut (SSN-587) (ex-SSGN-587)*
"Forty-one For Freedom" Polaris and Poseidon Missile Programs
General Characteristics, George Washington Class
Builders: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division; Newport News Shipbuilding; Mare Island; Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, one shaft
Length: 381.6 feet
Beam: 33 feet
Displacement: 5,959 tons submerged
Speed: 16+ knots
Crew: Two crews (Blue & Gold); 12 Officers, 100 Enlisted per crew
Armament: 16 missile tubes for Polaris A-1, A-2, A-3; six 21-inch torpedo tubes for MK 14-6; MK 37-1, 3; MK 37 NTS; or MK 48 torpedoes
Ships:
USS George Washington (SSBN 598)
USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599)
USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN 600)
USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN 601)
USS Abraham Lincoln (SSBN 602)
General Characteristics, Ethan Allen Class
Builders: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division; Newport News Shipbuilding
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, one shaft
Length:
Beam:
Displacement:
Speed: 20+ knots (23+ miles per hour)
Crew:
Armament: MK-48 torpedoes, six torpedo tubes
Ships:
USS Ethan Allen (SSBN 608)
USS Sam Houston (SSBN 609)
USS Thomas A. Edison (SSBN 610)
USS John Marshall (SSBN 611)
USS Thomas Jefferson (SSBN 618)
General Characteristics, Lafayette Class
Builders: General Dynamics' Electric Boat Division; Mare Island Naval
Shipyard, Newport News Shipbuilding, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, one geared steam turbine, one shaft
Length: 425 feet
Beam: 33 feet
Displacement: Approx. 7,363 tons
Speed: 20+ knots (23+ miles per hour)
Armament: Mk 48 torpedoes; four torpedo tubes. 16 Polaris missiles (later back-fitted to the Poseiden missile system)
Ships:
USS Lafayette (SSBN 616)
USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN 617)
USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN 619)
USS John Adams (SSBN 620)
USS James Monroe (SSBN 622)
USS Nathan Hale (SSBN 623)
USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN 624)
USS Henry Clay (SSBN 625)
USS Daniel Webster (SSBN 626)*
* Converted to the Moored Training Ship in Charleston, S.C. (MTS 626)
General Characteristics, James Madison Class
Builders: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, one shaft
Length:
Beam:
Displacement:
Speed: 20+ knots (23+ miles per hour)
Crew: 13 Officers, 107 Enlisted
Armament: MK-48 torpedoes, four torpedo tubes
Ships:
USS James Madison (SSBN-627)*
USS Tecumseh (SSBN-628)
USS Daniel Boone (SSBN-629)
USS John C. Calhoun (SSBN-630)
USS Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN-631)
USS Von Steuben (SSBN-632)
USS Casimir Pulaski (SSBN-633)
USS Stonewall Jackson (SSBN-634)
USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN-635)*
USS Nathaniel Greene (SSBN-636)
* Converted to moored training platforms MTS-635 (1989) and MTS-626 (1993)
General Characteristics, Benjamin Franklin Class
Builders: Mare Island Naval Shipyard; General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, two geared steam turbines, one shaft
Length: 425 feet
Beam: 33 feet
Displacement: Approx. 8,250 tons submerged
Speed: 20+ knots (23+ miles per hour)
Crew: Two crews (Blue & Gold);13 Officers, 120 Enlisted per crew
Armament: 16 missile tubes for Poseidon or Trident I; four 21-inch torpedo tubes for MK 48 torpedoes
Ships:
USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640)
USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641)
USS KAMEHAMEHA (SSBN-642)*
USS George Bancroft (SSBN-643)
USS Lewis and Clark (SSBN-644)
USS James K. Polk (SSBN-645)*
USS George C. Marshall (SSBN-654)
USS Henry L. Stimson (SSBN-655)
USS George W. Carver (SSBN-656)
USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657)
USS Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658)
* Converted to SSN-642 & SSN-645
Missile Submarines of the Cold War
Strategic nuclear deterrence has been the primary mission of U.S. nuclear-powered fleet ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs) since their inception in 1960. Fleet ballistic missile submarines are the nation's most survivable and enduring nuclear strike capable platforms. The USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (SSBN-598), commissioned in 1963, conducted the first submerged launch of a ballistic missile. President John F. Kennedy observing a launch stated: "Once one has seen a Polaris firing, the efficacy of this weapons system as a deterrent is not debatable."
The genesis of the Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN) natural begins with the development of the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile (ICBM). This led to two developments: the move towards 'second-level deterrence' (the ability to launch a second nuclear strike after the first one had brought down the enemy's retaliatory strike); and the frantic search for an effective Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile (SLBM) which could be fired from any point within the enormous radius of a nuclear submarine.
By 1955 the Navy had developed the Sea-Launched Cruise Missile. The problems of these early cruise missiles were twofold. First, the submarine had to approach dangerously close to the enemy's coastline; second, the missile had to be launched from the surface. The leading cruise missile of the middle and late 1950s was the Regulus. The continuing setbacks to the U.S. long-range rocket program brought the Regulaus program to the fore as the only strategic nuclear missile capable of being launched from a submarine.
In February 1956 the Navy announced that GRAYBACK and GROWLER, originally laid down as diesel-electric attack submarines, were to be completed as guided-missile submarines for the deployment of Regulus.
The two submarines were cut in two and cylindrical hangers installed above the bows to carry the missiles. Automatic loading and firing gear enabled the submarines to surface, extract the Regulus missile from its hanger straight onto an inclinded launching ramp, thus allowing the submarine to fire the missile and submerge immediately.
GRAYBACK and CROWLER became operation in 1958 and in XXXX, Mare Island Naval Shipyard launched the nuclear-powered submarine USS HALIBUT (SSGN-587). The "G" standing for "guided missile."
However, the Regulus Missile Program proved to serve only as a stop-gap measure. In the short-lived period of the Regulus Missile Program, enormous strides in both submarine and submarine weapons systems development were being made. The Polaris program took the hull from one of the newly developed streamlined, teardrop SKIPJACK class, and by inserting a 130 foot section to accommodate two rows of eight vertical rocket-launching tubes, increased the length of the submarine from 251 feet to 381 feet in overall length. This first submarine was the USS GEORGE WASHINGTON (SSBN-598).
The lead ship of the class, GEORGE WASHINGTON, was launched on 9 June 1959 and commissioned on 15 November of that year. Eight months later, on 20 July 1960, lying submerged off the coast of Florida, she made the first successful firing of the Polaris A-1 missile. Two years later, on 6 May 1962, the ETHAN ALLEN (SSBN-608) successfuly fired a live Polaris A-2 in the Pacific Test Area.
The Polaris A-1 first fired by the GEORGE WASHINGTON had an impressive range of 1,200 nautical miles. However, this was immediately increased by the incorporation of the new improved Polaris A-2 by 300 nautical miles to 1,500 miles. In less than two year, in October 1963, the USS ANDREW JACKSON (SSBN-619) fired the first Polaris A-3, which not only increased the range of the missile to 2,500 nautical miles, but it also incorporated the first multiple-warhead capabile of delivering three separate nuclear warheads on the same target --ushering in the next generation of submarine-launced ballistic missiles, Poseidon.
USS George Washington (SSBN-598)
