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| New US Submarine with Nuclear Weapons |
The order includes the USS Columbia, the flagship of the Columbia class submarines. There is also the USS Wisconsin submarine.
Columbia-class submarines will replace aging Ohio-class submarines in the US nuclear triad, with each submarine capable of responding to a surprise attack with a devastating thermonuclear counter-attack.
The contract for the construction of several of these new US submarines was awarded to General Dynamics Electric Boat. The Columbia-class submarines will be ready for their first nuclear deterrence patrols in 2031.
The US Navy plans to replace 14 existing Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines - which were delivered between 1981 and 1997 - with 12 Columbia class ships.
The Navy, however, expects the submarines to last between 40 and 50 years each, and the fleet will sail until the 2080s.
Each Columbia class submarine will be armed with up to 16 Trident D-5 ballistic missiles. The Trident D-5 is a solid rocket-fired missile with a range of 4,600 miles, and is capable of carrying up to 14 W-76-1 thermonuclear warheads, each of which has six times the destructive power of the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
The Trident D-5s at sea on Ohio-class submarines currently pack between four and five W-76-1 warheads or one W-76-2 5 kiloton warhead.
Assuming each Colombian-class submarine carries 14 Trident D-5 missiles equipped with five large-explosive nuclear warheads and two Trident D-5 missiles with lower-power nuclear warheads, one ship can carry more than six megatons of nuclear weapons. or the equivalent of 6,310,000 tons of TNT.
Submarines equipped with the Trident D-5 represent the sea-based leg of America's nuclear triad. The US nuclear triad consists of 76 B-52H Stratofortress bombers and 20 B-2 Spirit manned bombers, 400 silo-based Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, and 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines.
The US nuclear triad has distinct advantages and disadvantages and works to complement each other.
