Submarine: A Guided Tour Inside a Nuclear Warship

2

Norman Friedman, Submarine Design and Development, U.S. Naval Institute, 1984.

3

Patrick Taylor, Running Critical, Harper and Row, 1986, p. 58.

4

Ibid., p. 259.

5

Ibid., p. 58.

6

Ibid.

7

A. D. Baker, Combat Fleets of the World, U.S. Naval Institute, 1993, pp. 809– 811.

8

As this book goes to press, massive cuts in the structure of the submarine force are being planned. These descriptions of bases and organizations are current as of March 1993.

9

The description of the development of the Los Angeles-class boats is superbly told in the book Running Critical by Patrick Taylor (Harper and Row, 1986).

10

A.D. Baker, Combat Fleets of the World, U.S. Naval Institute, 1993, pp. 809– 811.

11

The four boats being considered for conversion to guided missile submarines (SSGNs) include the Ohio (SSBN-726), Michigan (SSBN-727), Florida (SSBN-728), and Georgia (SSBN-729), all of which were scheduled for decommissioning under the START-2 arms-control agreement. While several configurations are being considered, the basic idea is to fit the Trident missile tubes with seven-cell vertical launchers and storage for supplies to support special operations forces (SOF). Between 126 and 154 Tomahawks would be carried, along with up to 66 SOF personnel.

12

While a number of boats were configured for electronic eavesdropping, at least four American SSNs were converted into covert operations platforms for deep ocean search and recovery as well as inshore tapping of undersea communications cables. Of the four, only Parche (SSN-683) is still in commission and will be replaced in the next few years. The other three, Seawolf (SSN- 575), Halibut (SSGN-587), and Richard B. Russell (SSN-687), were all decommissioned prior to, or at the end of, the Cold War.

13

For more on special warfare and the Army Special Forces, see my book Special Forces: A Guided Tour of U.S. Army Special Operations (Berkley Books, 2001).

14

The two Lafayette-class (SSBN-616) ballistic missile boats, Kamehameha (SSN- 642) and James K. Polk (SSN-645), have had their missile tubes converted to storage areas and been fitted with dry-dock hangars for specialized miniature submarines called SEAL Delivery Vehicles (SDVs). Each can carry and support up to 67 SEALs or troops with everything from explosives to rubber boats.