Posted on 04/27/2018 6:24:27 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
TWO thousand miles form nowhere! About two thousand from Hawaii, Tokyo, and Sidney. Perfectly triangulated smack dab in the middle of nowhere.
Ohio-class doomsday boats can carry like 2 dozen Trident II ballistic missiles. They roam the seven seas, Just get near the threat and launch and flight time significantly reduced, giving the threat little time to prepare for anything. I read one Trident can level 24 cities.
Only 1500 miles from Guam, my point of origin.
But then, that’s nowhere too.
One of the nuclear triad. The other two are submarine launched missiles and the bomber force.
” I read one Trident can level 24 cities.”
Or, 240 launch silos. 10 warheads per missile.
It’s a true first strike weapon.
Often as little as 10mins from launch to detonation...depending on distance. And, it is our most accurate too with a 50 meter CEP.
They put the boom in Boomer.
Yep, amazing technology makes for some amazing weapons.
My dad did military work designing weapon systems.
He said the only time he was ever scared was when he saw a Trident being assembled with its 10 warheads.
They are very, very big birds.
7ft in diameter and 45ft tall at 130,000 pounds.
18,000 mph in terminal phase.
148 successful test launches and no failures.
I don’t think it’s been hit THAT many times...
;)
~W
Kwajalein was the WWII site of a major battle in the island hopping campaign.
A fierce fight for the Marines and Soldiers who landed there and a hard fought win.
An old career missileer myself, I watched my second OT shot from a hill overlooking the LF. I was a lieutenant going through initial training enroute to the 741st missile squadron at Minot. An amazing sight close up.
I actually viewed my first OT shot as a Marine Corps sergeant looking out to the west at Barstow CA one early evening. We watched the two missiles rise up from the sunset horizon, climb and curve out as they went toward Kwajalein. It was the dual launch that has been used in many pictures to represent Minuteman launches.
Found out the next morning through a press release what we saw.
The OT shots were not normally classified although the result data was.
Spent many a late night tracking the impacts of these Glory Trip missions there on Kwaj. It was an interesting two years.
We knew them only by their WSMC numbers.
Ouch !
Deep south pacific.
No beaches to speak of, just signs warning of sharks.
I was on Missile Combat Crew bath as an enlisted and officer and then became a maintenance officer before doing all my weapons and other missile stuff stuff.
My time in ICBMs was the very best time of my career as I could proudly say I was at the very tip of our nuclear spear and deterrence during the cold war, and did so from 1976 to 1991, when the Cold War ended.
Those were very trying and tough times for us back then but are also the times I cherish the most.
My FOT&E shot was supposed to occur in the mid-afternoon but since they weren't classified the Soviets had both a trawler and a sub off our coast.
The Navy and Coast Guard had to chase the trawler away from the downrange safety area and then do the same for the sub. We didn't turn keys until 0130L the next morning.
It is true that the Trident D5 is rated as more accurate but our Minuteman IIIs were no slouch.
My FOT&E shot all three of our RVs were scored as direct hits, recording actual direct hits. One of our targets was an old water tower on one of the islands and our RV impacted at at the base of one of the four tower legs and knocked the tower over. Made a pretty nice crater too.
“Minuteman IIIs were no slouch”
They are rated at 200m CEP.
But old-timers I’ve talked too indicate it’s no more than 100M, either overshot or undershot.
But always on line.
The new variable fuses fix that. The warhead detonates over target.
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