New Fast-Attack Nuclear Submarines to be Named Arizona and Oklahoma

[Bob DBF]

The article states that the reactor compartment was also damaged. That could scrap a boat on merits

From the article:
"The four sources confirmed the Navy’s public statement that the reactor compartment of the submarine was undamaged from when the boat hit the object."

 

[Jared0425]

I have a classified question. Can subs launch their SLBMs during high winds and waves? Say one our missile subs is given a launch order while traveling through a typhoon?

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Stumbled across this on YouTube - really good breakdown of USS Thresher's loss by some of the people who pushed the USN to declassify additional files.

 

[Wookie]

I have a classified question. Can subs launch their SLBMs during high winds and waves? Say one our missile subs is given a launch order while traveling through a typhoon?

Launch depth 150 feet or so keel depth. It would be rough

 

[Bob DBF]

I have a classified question. Can subs launch their SLBMs during high winds and waves? Say one our missile subs is given a launch order while traveling through a typhoon?

There are limits to conditions to launch, as well as to even operate the submarine, nevermind the ability to receive the order. I'm sure they are more capable than the early missile boats i was on. With the range of the missiles they use today, it would be no problem to avoid the situation altogather.

 

[Jared0425]

There are limits to conditions to launch, as well as to even operate the submarine, nevermind the ability to receive the order. I'm sure they are more capable than the early missile boats i was on. With the range of the missiles they use today, it would be no problem to avoid the situation altogather.

Thanks Bob. I was wondering what a 50ft swell and a 100mph winds would do to a slbm.

 

[Bob DBF]

Thanks Bob. I was wondering what a 50ft swell and a 100mph winds would do to a slbm.

As a submariner. I'd worry about what it would do to the boat. One could may feel the effects of a storm like that deeper than 100'.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Subs really don't like being close to the surface in lousy weather; down in the Florida Keys we've had ~8,000-ton wrecks in 100+ ft of water get shifted around or broken up by wave action from hurricanes dozens of miles away. I have no idea how up-to-date SSBNs are kept on weather conditions but I imagine a typhoon or hurricane might be cause to order a boat on patrol to shft out of the track. At least as of ~25 years ago there was less emphasis on launching immediately upon receipt of orders; in the book Big Red when the Navy let a journalist onboard USS Nebraska they noted that in case of a launch order they were required to come to PD and first confirm that yes, WWIII was in progress before pulling the trigger. Of course, the security situation was considerably more permissive then.

The main purpose behind SSBNs is as a second-strike option; if you somehow get lucky and knock out most or all of the target country's ICBMs and bombers on the ground there's still a few hundred warheads' worth of payback ready out in the ocean. One of the reasons the Soviets and later Russians went for much longer range sub-launched missiles was they were not confident their boats would be able to get out into open water without having NATO subs camped on their tails; the Deltas, Typhoons, and presumably the newer Borei-class SSBNs would nose out of port and sit in easily-defended areas near the Russian coast where they could be supported by friendly subs, surface ships, and aircraft. The Western SSBNs on the other hand relied more on being "holes in the water" somewhere out in the middle of the ocean once the later-gen missiles like Poseidon and Trident came along.

 

[Bob DBF]

At least as of ~25 years ago there was less emphasis on launching immediately upon receipt of orders; in the book Big Red when the Navy let a journalist onboard USS Nebraska they noted that in case of a launch order they were required to come to PD and first confirm that yes, WWIII was in progress before pulling the trigger. Of course, the security situation was considerably more permissive then.

Not more permissive, as not having a secure communications option to check, and relying on the sub captain and crew. In addition, because the missile range was much shorter, the submarines were trying to stay undetected in high traffic areas, which was dificult, even without using a radio.

 

[HalcyonDaze]

Not more permissive, as not having a secure communications option to check, and relying on the sub captain and crew. In addition, because the missile range was much shorter, the submarines were trying to stay undetected in high traffic areas, which was dificult, even without using a radio.

I meant more permissive in terms of the threat environment. In the late 90s when Big Red was written the PLAN had a whopping five SSNs that were regarded as extremely noisy, the Russian Navy was struggling to maintain a handful of SSN patrols, and in general we thought the Cold War days were over for good. In that environment, coming up to PD in the open ocean to make sure launch orders received over VLF were real was a sound precaution. Nowadays the other guys have more and better SSNs at sea than they did 20 years ago and the international situation is more tense; sticking a radio mast up while on patrol is a bit riskier. Still a far cry from the Polaris boats that had to stay within 1,400-2,500 miles of their targets though.