This second part of submarine museum covers the beginning of the US Submarine Force through today. We’ll also be looking at the types of support vessels for the submarines, fast attack submarines, and the ballistic missiles that their submarines carry as they protect the US around the world.
history of submarines
The US Submarine Force began on April 11, 1900, when the Navy purchased its first vessel from early submarine designer and builder John Holland. Since then, nearly 800 submarines have been built for and purchased by our Navy to serve across the globe on all 7 seas in defense of freedom and to ensure our liberties are preserved. Pretty impressive.
Since 1900, a total of 65 boats have been lost at sea: 9 were lost before WWII, 52 boats and over 3500 men during WWII, and 4 since the end of the war. During the early days of the Cold War, the USS Thresher was lost during sea trials southeast of Cape Cod, Ma., on April 10, 1963, with 129 men aboard following the boat’s overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. This has been the largest loss of life in submarine history.
This tragic loss of life and loss of this submarine brought about a sea change in our submarine force in how boats were designed, built, maintained, and operated. Incredibly sophisticated and capable submarines were instituted. Just 2 months later in 1963, the SUBSAFE program was created, and since then not one submarine has been lost that was certified.
On May 22, 1968, the USS Scorpion sank, which had not yet undergone overhaul to be upgraded to SUBSAFE standards, and 99 men lost their lives. Since then no other submarine has been lost in over 50 years–a testament to the effectiveness of the SUBSAFE Program, those who built these machines, and those in uniform who operate and take these submarines to sea around the world.
USS Thresher – lost with all hands
What happened?
The Thresher was named after a tough breed of shark and built to seek and kill. Nuclear powered, she was the fastest-moving, deepest-diving, and most silent-running sub every built. In 2 years of cruising, she had never faltered until a test dive in Atlantic waters 8400 feet deep, she failed to surface.
According to an article in Popular Mechanics, the Navy officially said the Thresher sank because of “improperly welded piping ruptured onboard the ship, causing a seawater leak that eventually shorted out the ship’s electrical system. Crews were unable to reach equipment to stop the flooding in time, and the ballast tanks failed to work properly.”
From another source, “In sinking, the hull shattered with a debris field over 160,000 square yards. Bits of the wreckage were retrieved for study, but most of the ship and its crew remain there.”
submarine tenders and other support vessels
When submarines are far away from land, sometimes they need some help. Tenders and other support vessels help them out. The first US Navy Submarine Tender was the USS Fulton that was commissioned on December 7, 1914, at the Boston Navy Yard.
Today the Navy only operates and has in commission two submarine tenders: one home-ported in Guam (USS Emory S. Land), and the other deployed to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean (USS Frank Cable) where the Navy leases space from the United Kingdom. Both tenders take care of maintenance and repairs to not only our 4 Fast Attack Submarines (SSNs) homeported in Guam and others on operations throughout the Asia Pacific Region, but also deployed to the region.
Here in Kings Bay, after the base opened in 1978, the USS Simon Lake was the first tender to be homeported here in July 1979. After all the shore facilities at Trident Refit Facility were constructed on lower base, the tender on duty at that time, the USS Canopous was de-commissioned, and its captain, Ron Glover, donated many of the items here on display to the museum.
Other vessels that are part of the fleet supporting our submarines are Floating Drydocks (ARDM). The USS Ridge was the floating drydock assigned to Kings Bay prior to the permanent dry dock being built on the base.
(Per Wikipedia, “Floating dry docks are able to submerge underwater and to be placed under a ship in need of repair below the water line. Water is then pumped out of the floating dry dock, raising the ship out of the water. The ship becomes blocked on the deck of the floating dry dock for repair.”)
The fleet also includes Submarine Rescue Vessels (ASR), such as the USS Skylark, which was with the USS Thresher when she was doing deep dive testing following overhaul at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, and went down off the New England Coast in April 1963 with its 129 men. Skylark also participated in the search for the USS Scorpion in May 1968 when she went down south of the Azores with the loss of 99 men.
(Per Wikipedia, “A submarine rescue ship is a surface support ship for submarine rescue and deep-sea salvage operations. Methods employed include the McCann Rescue Chamber, deep-submergence rescue vehicles, and diving operations.”)
These vessels provide incredible support to the submarine fleet, sometimes in far locations far away from the United States, enabling our submarines to project US Naval power around the globe.
Per Wikipedia, the “USS Canopus (AS-34) was a Simon Lake-class submarine tender of the United States Navy, operational from 1965 to 1994. The vessel was used to repair and refit submarine-launched Polaris nuclear-armed ballistic missiles and the submarines that deployed with them.”
ballistic missiles
We first learned about these missiles in the previous post, but now we’re getting to learn more. Per Wikipedia, “Strategic missiles are either of the cruise or ballistic type. Cruise missiles are jet-propelled at subsonic speeds throughout their flights, while ballistic missiles are rocket-powered only in the initial (boost) phase of flight, after which they follow an arcing trajectory to the target.”
history of ballistic missiles
Polaris A-1: On July 20, 1960, the USS George Washington successfully launched the 1st Polaris A-1 missile while submerged. These rocket propelled missiles were designed to be accurate at high speeds and had a range of 1200 nautical miles. They were officially retired from service on October 14, 1965.
Polaris A-2: The design goal of these missiles, which were based on the A-1, was to fill out the tubes better. The USS Ethan Allen successfully launched the 1st Polaris A-2 on October 23, 1961, while submerged. These missiles began their initial operation patrol on June 26, 1962, and had a 1500 nautical miles. They were officially retired from service in September 1974.
Polaris A-3: This missile was deployed from 1964 to 1981. Its first launch from a submerged submarine, the USS Andrew Jackson, took place on October 26, 1963, and had a range of 2500 nautical miles. The A-3 had a much longer life span than previous missiles.
Poseidon C-3: The original name for this missile was Polaris B-3 [makes sense], but was changed after significant technological advances were made. The Poseidon displayed a new guidance system from the Polaris’. They had a larger width that could be safely housed in the same launch tubes as the Polaris, allowing the US Navy to deploy larger, improved Fleet Ballistic Missiles without having to make major modifications to existing launch tubes. Its range was 2500 nautical miles, and the missile was in service from March 31, 1971, to September 1992.
Trident C-4: By 1986, the Trident C-4 had replaced all Poseidon missiles. The USS Francis Scott Key became the first ship to launch a Trident on October 20, 1979. In February 1995, the USS Florida successfully launched 6 Trident missiles in rapid succession. These missiles were withdrawn from service in 2005.
Trident D-5: This missile has also been referred to as the Trident II and is the current missile used on Fleet Ballistic Missile (FBM) submarines in the Navy. The missile is capable of carrying multiple warheads, each of which is 8 times as destructive as the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945. The Trident required a new class of submarines to accommodate it, so the OHIO class was created. The D-5 was developed by Lockheed Martin in October 1983, and its first launch of the Trident II was from the USS Tennessee on March 21, 1989. The 1st test launch failed within the first 4 seconds and spiraled out of control. This failure required several modifications to correct the reliability of the weapons system. Since then no failures have occurred. Each Ohio-Class submarine can carry up to 24 Trident missiles and has a range of 4000 nautical miles.
types of subs
The US Navy has had 3 types of fast attack submarines in the following picture:
- top 2 photos: Los Angeles class submarines (top left has “sail planes” while top right doesn’t; a change made during the construction of the Los Angeles class.
- bottom left: the Seawolf
- bottom right: the Virginia
- Los Angeles class – the oldest and most familiar since it was made famous by Tom Clancy in The Hunt for Red October. It still makes up the bulk of our fast attack fleet.
- Seawolfs – these 3 huge Cold war submarines have 8 torpedo tubes and can carry 50 torpedoes each. While they are very capable, they’re very expensive. With the end of the Cold War, the Navy needed a more affordable submarine.
- Virginia class – as of 2013, ten of them are in service, leveraging the Seawolf with even more innovative technology.
ballistic missile submarines (SSBN)
The US Navy has only 1 type of ballistic missile submarine today–the Ohio class, sometimes referred to as the Trident class since it carries the Trident missile.
While 18 Ohio class submarines were originally built (SSBNs), only 14 are currently in use because 4 were converted to SSGNs that we’ll see in the information in the guided missile picture.
Each SSBN can carry 24 missiles that carry multiple warheads. Several of these submarines are at sea on patrol, ready to launch missiles at a moment’s notice.
When people talk of the nuclear “Triad,” they’re referring to the triad of nuclear launch platforms: bombers, land-based ICBMs, and SSBNs. These submarines are the only survivable leg of the Triad against an enemy attack since no one knows where they are when they’re at sea, not even our own Navy.
guided missile submarine (SSGN)
With the START nuclear warhead limitations on February 5, 2011, the Navy had 4 extra Trident submarines; instead of decommissioning them with their 20 years of life left, the Navy converted them into this special warfare platforms.
Twenty-two of the 24 missile tubes were modified to carry Tomahawk missiles instead of nuclear warhead-tipped ballistic missiles. These Tomahawk missiles were in 7-pack launchers; the remaining 2 tubes were modified to access trunks to Dry Deck Shelters (DDS) if they are attached to the submarine’s missile deck. Each DDS is capable of carrying a SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) which is a 4-man mini-sub that can carry 2 platoons of Navy SEALs with their equipment.
files and a well-known chair
The museum is the storage facility for US submarines WWII patrol reports. Over 1000 actual CSS distribution copies were presented to the museum by retired Rear Admiral Lawrence Julihn.
So much about submarines that we never knew (well, Barney knew some of this information). Next we’ll talk a walk around a park a couple of blocks away to learn about what happened here over the past 300 years.
