Versatility of converted subs earns praise
Posted: Tue Oct 28, 2008 5:29 pm
Linkarooni
Versatility of converted subs earns praise
By Andrew Scutro - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Oct 27, 2008 16:54:34 EDT
Its potency has been compared to a floating army division by a special operations general. It’s a war machine so useful to SEALs that it makes them actually want to open up and talk for once.
And its lethality is easily recognized — the official Chinese news agency dubbed it “A Warehouse of Explosives ... a Devil of Deterrence.”
The operational debut of the Navy’s four Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines converted to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and conduct large-force special warfare missions has exceeded expectations, according to operators, managers and leadership.
Two former silent members of the nuclear triad — the Ohio and Florida — are on deployment loaded with various combinations of Tomahawk cruise missiles, SEALs and submersibles. The Michigan sets out in the coming weeks and will — for the first time on this type of boat — employ the Advanced SEAL Delivery System, a minisub. The Georgia will deploy in 2009.
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