USS Ohio began the conversion in November 2002 and rejoined the fleet in January 2006, following her sea trials. Four of the boats of the Ohio-class – including the lead boat – were converted to conventionally-armed nuclear-powered (SSGNs) submarines. Navy strategic missile submarines was limited to fourteen beginning in 2002. In accordance with the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START II), which was agreed in June 1992, the number of U.S. The boats were also designed to carry an advanced sonar suite that included the IBM BQQ 6 passive search sonar, Raytheon BQS 13, BQS 15 active and passive high-frequency sonar, and an active Raytheon BQR 19 navigation sonar. The Ohio-class was also designed with four 533mm (21-inch) torpedo tubs with a Mk 118 digital torpedo fire control systems, and armed with Gould Mk 48s, a heavyweight weapon with a 640 pound (290 kg) warhead. The boats are able to maintain a top speed of 18 knots when surfaced and 25 knots submerged.
The Ohio-class submarines feature a streamlined outer hull that enables the boat to move silently through the water at high speed, while the interior pressure hull provides an area that is large enough to accommodate the weapons, crew and equipment.Įach of the submarines are powered by a GE S8G pressure water reactor with two turbines that provide 45 MW (60,000 shp), which drive a single shaft. This further maximizes the SSBN’s strategic availability, while reducing the number of boats that are required to meet the strategic requirements and yet allow for proper crew training, readiness and morale. The two sets of crews each consists of fifteen officers, including its own captain, and one hundred forty four enlisted sailors. The hatches allow the sailors to rapidly transfer supply pallets, equipment replacement modules, and other machinery components quickly.Įach of the SSBNs has two crews – “Blue” and “Gold” – which alternate manning the boats while on patrol. To reduce the time in port for crew turnover and replenishment the submarines were built with three large logistics hatches – and these provide large diameter supply and repair openings. Navy’s boats displaced 16,764 tons, were 560 feet (170 meters) in length, and were 42 feet (13 meters) at the beam. Until the deployment of the Soviet Union’s mighty Typhoon-class, the Ohio was the largest submarine in the world.
The crew facilities were also enhanced, and included two onboard libraries and other amenities. The Ohio-class has been seen as a major improvement over the previous Lafayette-class SSBNs, and the boats were faster, quieter, and easier to maintain. The first eight boats were delivered with Trident C4 missiles, while the fourteen to follow were armed with the longer-range Trident D5 – a weapon that has been touted as being as accurate as ground-based ICBMs, and with the same response time and greater destructive effect. Bush as providing “a new dimension in our nation’s strategic deterrence.” The submarine, which had been laid down five years earlier, was the first in a new class of eighteen nuclear-powered SSBNs built for the United States Navy. While the Ohio-class submarines are children of the Cold War – and built to destroy the Soviet Union in a nuclear war – these ballistic missiles submarines now are tasked with deterring China and Russia. When the USS Ohio (SSBN-726) was commissioned in 1981, the nuclear ballistic submarine was heralded by then-Vice President George H.W.
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