Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

U.S. Seeks Successor to Trident Submarine
American Forces Press Service ^ | Gerry J. Gilmore

Posted on 02/20/2009 3:15:29 PM PST by SandRat

NAVAL SUBMARINE BASE KING’S BAY, Ga., Feb. 20, 2009 – The U.S. Navy has started the process to find a 21st-century successor to the Trident strategic missile submarine, senior Defense Department officials said here yesterday.

Click photo for screen-resolution image
Left to right, Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter; Navy Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of Naval Operations; and Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, meet with reporters at Naval Submarine Base King’s Bay, Ga., Feb. 19, 2009. The USS Rhode Island, a Trident strategic missile submarine, is berthed behind the group. DoD photo by Gerry J. Gilmore
  

(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
“We’re just at the opening phases right now, going through the proper systems engineering that will advance that particular design approach,” Secretary of the Navy Donald C. Winter told reporters at a news conference.

Tridents are nuclear-powered, Ohio-class submarines. At 560 feet long and 42 feet wide, Tridents are the largest submarines in the U.S. Navy’s inventory. The first Trident ballistic-missile submarine, the USS Ohio, was commissioned in 1981.

“A wide variety of options” are being considered for the Trident’s replacement, Winter said. However, the Navy secretary expressed his belief that the Trident system would be replaced by another undersea-going platform.

“I do fully expect that it is going to be a submarine,” Winter said of the Trident’s successor.

Prior to the news conference the Navy’s top leaders and the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff were among senior officials who attended a ceremony that paid tribute to the crew of the USS Wyoming Trident strategic missile submarine.

The USS Wyoming finished its 38th patrol Feb. 11, marking the 1000th completed patrol of a Trident submarine since the Ohio embarked on its initial patrol in October 1982. The Wyoming was commissioned in July 1996 and began its first patrol in August 1997.

Marine Corps Gen. James E. Cartwright, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, echoed Winter’s belief that the Trident’s replacement “will be a submarine.”

Chief of Naval Operations Navy Adm. Gary Roughead told reporters of the resilience and independence exhibited by submariners’ families.

“I think the families of our submariners are really like submariners, a special breed,” Roughead said. “And, my hat’s off to them, and they have my utmost respect and support.”

The U.S. military is about to embark on its Quadrennial Defense Review and a Nuclear Posture Review, Cartwright said, to determine what types of defense capabilities will be required to maintain U.S. national security in the coming years. The QDR is performed every four years.

The threats America faces during the 21st century are much more diverse and involve “a much broader spectrum of conflict against a much broader number of enemies, to include those that are not nation-states,” Cartwright told reporters.

Gauging and evaluating future threats and determining what kinds of military capabilities and systems will be needed to deter them will be debated during the QDR and the nuclear posture review, Cartwright said.

U.S. defense planners are now seeking “to tailor our deterrence for the types of actors that were not present during the Cold War but are going to be present in the future,” Cartwright said.

And, “it will be the sailors that will make the difference in deterrence, not necessarily just the platforms,” Cartwright said of the Navy’s future nuclear-deterrent mission.

The 14 nuclear-missile carrying Trident submarines based here and at other Navy ports provide more than half of America’s strategic deterrent capability, King’s Bay officials said.

“The application of deterrence can be actually more complicated in the 21st century, but some fundamentals don’t change,” Air Force Gen. Kevin P. Chilton, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, said. “And, the underlying strength of our deterrence force remains the nuclear deterrent force that we have today.”

The Trident submarine strategic missile force “is absolutely essential” to America’s nuclear-deterrent capability, Chilton said.

“And, it’s not just to deter nuclear conflict,” he said of the Tridents’ mission. “These forces have served to deter conflict in general, writ large, since they’ve been fielded.”

The U.S. government agreed to reduce the number of its strategic-missile submarines as part of the 1992 Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty. Consequently, four of the Navy’s 18 Trident submarines were modified to exchange their nuclear missiles for Tomahawk-guided cruise missiles. These vessels carry the designator SSGN. In 2006, the USS Ohio was converted into a guided-missile submarine.

At the news conference, Roughead said the Navy is “really pleased” with the converted Trident submarines, which also carry a contingent of special operations troops, as well as the Tomahawks.

“That [type of] submarine has performed extremely well,” Roughead said of the cruise-missile carrying Tridents.

The facility here was established in 1980, replacing a closed U.S. ballistic submarine facility that had been based in Rota, Spain. In 1989, USS Tennessee was the first Trident submarine to arrive at the facility. Another Trident training facility is based in Bangor, Wash.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government; US: Georgia
KEYWORDS: submarine; successor; trident

1 posted on 02/20/2009 3:15:30 PM PST by SandRat
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: SandRat

We don’t need no steeking subs.

We can depend of presidential charm to protect us.


2 posted on 02/20/2009 3:17:07 PM PST by null and void (We are now in day 31 of our national holiday from reality.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void
We can depend of presidential charm to protect us.

Absolutely, I foresee some kind of Rainbow powered craft to patrol our seas. Possibly manned by Unicorns.

3 posted on 02/20/2009 3:21:57 PM PST by AreaMan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: SandRat

Taking bets on the day 0bummer cancels any discussion of a new sub.


4 posted on 02/20/2009 3:26:20 PM PST by Uncle Miltie (A trillion here, a trillion there, and pretty soon you are talking about Zimbabwe money.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: null and void

No problem. We can borrow the money from China.


5 posted on 02/20/2009 3:26:45 PM PST by AGreatPer (Obama is not my president until we see his birth certificate. A real one.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: AreaMan
Absolutely, I foresee some kind of Rainbow powered craft to patrol our seas. Possibly manned by Unicorns.

Greg, Greg Gutfeld is that you?

6 posted on 02/20/2009 3:30:57 PM PST by Joiseydude (Obama: "Putting my ideals into effect are more important than your safety from terrorist acts")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SandRat

I really hope that one of those Tridents, instead of being scrapped, is converted to a scientific boat. The value to oceanography would be immense, and it could perform very practical missions as well.

For example, working in concert with a surface ship, it could extend the mission time of deep sea submersibles, and recover objects too large and heavy for them to bring up. It could also guide “entombment” projects with undersea concrete to cover nuclear and hazardous waste disposal sites. In the days of the Soviet Union, entire nuclear reactors were dumped into the Arctic ocean, now presenting a serious hazard.

It would also be of great value with undersea mining operations perhaps worth billions of dollars.


7 posted on 02/20/2009 3:35:23 PM PST by yefragetuwrabrumuy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: AGreatPer

Heck, we can have China build ‘em, and outsource operations to India!


8 posted on 02/20/2009 3:38:11 PM PST by null and void (We are now in day 31 of our national holiday from reality.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: AreaMan

“Absolutely, I foresee some kind of Rainbow powered craft to patrol our seas. Possibly manned by Unicorns.”

Not a chance. The “ducks and bunnies” class of frigate will be the new standard for warships. As I understand it, the technology came from Obamastan.


9 posted on 02/20/2009 3:41:42 PM PST by EQAndyBuzz (History does repeat itself. This is Ceasar and the Roman Senate.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: SandRat

As a side note, best view of Kings Bay... There is a skydiving place that uses a runway adjacent to the base. I highly recommended it if your ever in the area... or if you work there. :)


10 posted on 02/20/2009 3:45:28 PM PST by jprobst
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SandRat

We won’t need strategic sub launched nukes when we can just go to the UN for protection or maybe buy “protection” from the Chinese.


11 posted on 02/20/2009 3:50:36 PM PST by The Great RJ ("Mir we bleiwen wat mir sin" or "We want to remain what we are." ..Luxembourg motto)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SandRat
There's no way that Obama allows a new nuclear weapon delivery platform to come to life. One only needs read his recent statements on our current nuclear inventory to predict what his position on this new sub will be.

Under Obama's administration, Zell Miller's "spit ball" prediction may just come true.

12 posted on 02/20/2009 3:56:12 PM PST by Big_Monkey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Convert them into ash trays or something......(sarc)


13 posted on 02/20/2009 4:13:25 PM PST by llevrok (You vill havf CHANGE undt like it, ja!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson