US Navy’s New Missile Subs Will Be Armed with Deadly Nuclear Missiles

Prowling the seas for next half century is the so-called Columbia-class submarines that built to launch its nuclear payload on American adversaries.

US Navy's New Missile subs will be sailing soon

The newest of the next-generation nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines has been approved for $9.4 billion, and that hefty amount allows the US to dominate with advanced subs, report Popular Mechanics.

The contract pays for the USS Columbia, the initial boat built in the Columbia-class, add the USS Wisconsin, the second vessel. These new subs would replace the earlier Ohio-class submarines, with each sub capable of delivering a destructive nuclear counterstrike in the case of a surprise attack.

This new class is going to do its first mission in countering Russia and China in 2031, owing to the contract, which has been arranged with shipbuilder General Dynamics Electric Boat. The Navy has plans to retire the current 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, and replace them with 12 Columbia-class submarines to be delivered between 1981 and 1997.

DefenseOne noted that the Navy intends the submarines to last for 40 to 50 years each, with the fleet serving even into the 2080s.

All of the new ICBM subs will have 16 Trident D-5 submarine launched ballistic missiles (ICBMS) onboard. The Trident D-5 has a range of 4,600 miles, with 14 W-76-1 nuke warheads that is six times greater than the Hiroshima A-bomb. Ohio subs that have the Trident D-5 has four and five W-76-1 warheads or a single, 5-kiloton, low-yield W-76-2 warhead.

One Columbia will have the firepower of six megatons or the equal of 6,310,000 tons of TNT. The US Navy's new missile subs will pack more power than any weapon of war.

All missiles' submersibles are armed with Tridents and are the sea component of the nuclear triad. Triad refers to nuclear bombers like the B-52 and B-2 Spirit Stealth bombers, and the silo launched Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, with the Ohio missile subs to complete it. All the advantages of the nuclear capable weapons are from a strategy to optimize nuclear attacks at the same time.

One of the best reasons to keep nuclear subs under the sea is that they are hard to find as they are virtually invisible. Attack subs are the only danger to them.

An attack on the US will cause the Columbia class to launch attacks on ships, cities, and rain nuclear annihilation on all US adversaries. Enemies know this and it keeps the US safe from nuclear strikes with assured mutual destruction.

When deployed, the 12 boats will be divided by the Pacific and Atlantic oceans from bases in Washington and Florida. These will be the longest missions to maximize their missions at sea, with two crews to keep the subs sailing at all times.

Plans to develop a new class of subs called SSN(X) class submarines are next, these next gen attack will be wide as 42 feet wide (Colombia) unlike the 36-foot wide (Virginia) it replaces. It is expected to have a quieter sub with more weapons, said the U.S. Naval Institute News.

Once US Navy's new missile subs are in service, this will mean a lot for America's military might.