Posted on 10/12/2026 9:06:18 AM PDT by Retain Mike
The United States will soon carry out the largest reduction in sea-based strategic launch capacity in its history—at precisely the moment the threat demands more. The November 2024 unclassified nuclear employment strategy report—submitted under 10 U.S.C. §491 and known as the 491 Report—now directs the joint force to “deter Russia, the PRC, and [North Korea] simultaneously in peacetime, crisis, and conflict.
The Navy built 14 Ohio-class SSBNs with 24 missile tubes apiece—336 tubes of design capacity, of which 20 per boat remain operational after New START conversion. Twelve Columbias will carry 16 tubes apiece, netting 192 tubes.20 The transition surrenders 43 percent of the sea-based leg’s launcher count—and hull geometry locks in that cut for half a century, the class’s planned service life.
Twelve hulls and call it a day was never going to add up. A second peer plus a smaller, delayed boat equals a tube deficit that will linger 50 years unless the Navy acts soon. The question is not whether the boats will be quiet enough—they will—but whether the nation will build enough, with enough tubes pointed in enough directions, to deter two peers at once. The arithmetic says not yet.
(Excerpt) Read more at usni.org ...
Dear FRiends,
We need your continuing support to keep FR funded. Your donations are our sole source of funding. No sugar daddies, no advertisers, no paid memberships, no commercial sales, no gimmicks, no tax subsidies. No spam, no pop-ups, no ad trackers.
If you enjoy using FR and agree it's a worthwhile endeavor, please consider making a contribution today:
Click here: to donate by Credit Card
Or here: to donate by PayPal
Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794
Thank you very much and God bless you,
Jim
If the communists get back into the WH, there will be horrendous cuts in boats and tubes...
We have to spend our money on illegal immigrants and foreign wars.
The way things are going, we may need to also deter France and UK, since they are becoming more hostile to the USA.
Whew! from the title I thought it was about offing and/or sterilizing baby boomers. Leave me alone, I’m not siring kids and I’m checking out as fast as my Creator intends I should!
No, the reason we build boomers is Russia, the PRC, and North Korea.
“No, the reason we build boomers is Russia, the PRC, and North Korea.”
__________________
I repeat, because your comment doesn’t take into account that the global order is changing: The way things are going, we may need to also deter France and UK, since they are becoming more hostile to the USA.
LOL, no, we aren’t and won’t be building boomers to save us from an attack from France or Britain, our high levels of military defense is to protect us from the very real threats of Russia, China, and North Korea.
“LOL, no, we aren’t and won’t be building boomers to save us from an attack from France or Britain...”
______________________________________________
We should be, they’re getting Islamified very rapidly - soon they’ll be run by them. The length of time it takes us to build subs we should prepare now.
Do we switch our defenses from Russia, China, and NK to France and Britain or do we just increase our national defense spending to defend against them all equally?
I had a t shirt during the Cold War that said “24 empty tubes 144 mushroom clouds - it’s Miller time.”
ping
Oh, I remember that. LOL
I’m always in favor of is having the strongest military on earth.
Now I hope we’re developing more advanced methods of interceptors, but that’s not much of a deterrent to lunatic regimes, like we have witnessed with Iran and attacks on Israel and their intercept capabilities. Intercept capability alone is not sufficient.
How does that answer post 10?
“How does that answer post 10?“
________
I think you mean post 9. That was my answer. We don’t switch from anything we adapt to cover all threats present and anticipated — have the strongest military in the world.
Mike Steger believes France and Britain can overcome and correct course. I don’t see them being in control now. The red/green alliance has too big a foothold all across the EU and the UK:
French Patriots Rise to End Macron’s Civil War: The Power of the American Revolution
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ld1s15sCyrw&pp=0gcJCY8Co7VqN5tD&ra=m
Yes you were right it was post 10.
Boomers are mostly retired now.
But Gen X is still out there
France and Britain are still our allies and will be in 20 years and will still be part of our defenses against Russia, they are not a threat to America militarily, Russia and Red China are a threat to us and the entire world, and it is they and North Korea which require us to maintain all that military muscle and our global allies.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.