Want China Times
The USS Ohio, the leading boat of the Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines. (Photo/US Navy)
In an article written for the Chicago-based Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists on Jan. 11, nuclear experts Hans M Kristensen and Robert S Norris stated that more than 60% of US submarine nuclear deterrent patrols take place in the Pacific Ocean.
The article says there are currently 14 Ohio-class nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines patrolling international waters around the world, with eight deployed to the Pacific and the other six to the Atlantic. All of the submarines are equipped with Trident II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles with a range of 7,840 kilometers, while 12 of the subs are normally considered operational, with a 13th and 14th boat in overhaul at any given time, they said.
The deployed submarines can carry approximately 1,150 nuclear warheads. “In practice, each missile probably has three, four or five warheads, depending upon the requirement of the war plan,” the article said, adding, that loading with fewer warheads increases a missile’s range.
Kristensen and Norris said eight or nine of the 12 operational nuclear missile submarines are at sea at any given time, with “four or five of the at-sea boats are on ‘hard alert,’ which means that they are in designated patrol areas within range of the targets specified in their assigned target package in accordance with the strategic war plan.”
Meanwhile, US nuclear submarine patrols have been decreased from 64 patrols in 1999 to 28 in 2011, according to the article. “As a result, each sub now conducts an average of 2.5 patrols per year compared with 3.5 patrols a decade ago,” Kristensen and Norris said.
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