SSBNs: What happens after launching missiles?

If they launch they have served their purpose and have inflicted damage far in excess of their future value. See the film "On the Beach" with Gregory Peck.

"old hoodoo" wrote

I doubt the Navy would just abandon them and leave them to fend for themselves.

KL

the destruction in on the beach was cause by both sides firing off all their land based weapons plus the subs. i suspect there were many more time land based than sea based. the movie's premise is very much discreditied now that we know more about planetary weather systems. the nuclear winter sceanario is much more to be feared.

Evade enemy forces. Return to base. Await further orders.

They don't reload from tenders in peacetime, so under war conditions it's doubtful.

JM

"John Mianowski" wrote

Hmmm. My assumption was that the bases would be gone, plus that would pretty much tell "them" where to set a SSN to nail them.

There is (was?) a reload capability from tenders. If they don't do it peacetime - nor in wartime - why have it?

KL

We certainly played the old "shell game" on the Canopus. Move the missile carrier (a tube with a motorized pulley system) from our missile storage over the sub's tube, then from the sub back over our missile storage. The idea of it was that anyone watching would have no idea if the missiles were being loaded from the tender to the sub, or off-loaded from the sub to the tender.

So... um, I actually can't say if they reloaded from tenders or not.

Besides, I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons on any United States Naval vessel.

"Jack Bohn" wrote

From

"The 18 Trident SSBNs (each carrying 24 missiles), carry

50 percent of the total U.S. strategic warheads." And "Trident II: Warhead: Nuclear MIRV (Multiple Independently Targetable Re-entry Vehicles)".

Although the exact load out of a particular ship, at a particular time is classified, the fact that SSBNs are normally armed with nuclear weapons is not.

As it turns out, there are no more SSBN tenders in US service anyway.

KL

Your implication is that all the sub's missiles would be fired in one salvo. Survivability is the sub's strong point (as opposed to land-based launch sites), so it would make sense to hold back some of the sub's armament for follow-on attacks. Actually, the entire sub force would probably be employed in a second-strike mode, for that very reason.

But all this is MAD strategic theory. Actually, the sub's real mission is deterrence. If the missiles are actually used, that primary mission has failed.

Well....it's end of the world time. MAD. If there is any red meat left over in the food lockers, they would head for some radiation free waters and have a final BBQ top side. Tahiti would be my destination if I were the Captain.

Chris

There was a book in the '80s called The Day After World War III. It did mention what the boomers were to do if they had launched all of their missiles. SSBNs that had fired their full load were to turn into attack subs and look for Soviet ships or subs. Assuming there was a surviving base, they could reload (in theory).

It's Miller time!!!

Well ya didn't hear it from me!

That's probably what the canned response was in reference to: "any particular United States Naval vessel."

I wonder what it takes to release them for duty as an artificial reef.

"Alexander Arnakis" wrote

Once a SSBN fires a single missile, it's position is known. Enemy forces would swarm to the area - assuming a nuclear ASROC isn't sent to the launch point immediately. Missiles not launched would have a high probability of being lost.

Yeah, I'd heard that. However, initiating the launch command and missile not leaving the tube also means their mission has failed, yet there are documented procedures in place for "what to do next". I can only assume that all aspects of the mission are similarly thought out.

KL

They may simply not advertise it.

FWIW I have a friend who was a MARDET?(Marine Detachment) on the U.S.S. America in the early 1980's. He claims that he was taking a break one evening when he saw a missile being loaded from the aircraft carrier unto a submarine. He said it took only a matter of minutes and he would have missed the whole thing had he not happen to be looking in that direction.

Submerged tenders, no doubt, since the boomers tend to submerge shortly after leaving base, & surface again only when they're about to return to base, remaining underwater for their entire missions.

JM