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Development of the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile
Development of the Submarine Launched Ballistic Missile
Throughout history, navies have made significant impacts in the technological development of human kind. These impacts range from improvements in metal technologies made while perfecting the cannon to the advent of cybernetics, which allowed more precise targeting of weaponry. One of the more sophisticated developments in naval history has been the invention of the submarine. The submarine was born in 1620 as a leather-covered rowboat built by Cornelius Drebbel. After Robert Fulton came up with a more modern prototype in 1800, the military advantages of a nearly invisible warship were quickly divined. However, they remained unrealized for quite a while. Although Fulton probably foresaw that his invention would be used for war, he hardly could have envisioned it launching projectiles with the capability to level entire countries. However, after a series of innovations in nuclear missile and submarine designs, the submarine-launched ballistic missile has become an integral part of our naval weapons arsenal. To understand the need for the development of nuclear missile submarines, there is a need to examine the political climate of the world in the era after World War II. The realignment of the superpowers after the war resulted in a unique situation. The two major naval powers of the day, Great Britain and the United States, were now allied against the greatest land power in history in the Soviet Union. In the period from 1955 to 1965, the advantage was heavily in favor of the U.S. As the United States had developed the atomic and hydrogen bombs first, they obviously gained a head start which developed into a decisive nuclear advantage. This advantage acted as an effective deterrent to any Soviet movement into Western Europe. However, as the Soviet nuclear arsenal expanded (mostly during the Kennedy administration), it became necessary to effect a balance in the area of conventional warfare or to make more inroads in nuclear weapons development. Before this could be accomplished, however, advancements in submarine technology had to make as well.
The submarines of World War II, although effective in their roles, were rather primitive. A noisy, slow, shallow-diving sub would hardly be a capable missile submarine as it could be easily detected and destroyed. Even so, before the end of the war, there were intelligence reports in America that the German Navy had developed a U-boat capable of towing or carrying V-2 rockets to launch sites near the U.S. east coast. Although these reports turned out to be false, the Germans had been developing a type of submersible barge to tow V-2s. This scare prompted the American development of ballistic missile submarines.
Experiments in submarine design had concentrated mainly on improving the quality of power plants (usually diesel or electric engines), achieving better maneuverability through new hull designs, and developing quieter propulsion systems that achieved better top speeds. A nuclear reactor power plant would meet all of these objectives, but the development of a nuclear-powered submarine was not without obstacles. As the U.S. and the Soviet Union expanded their land-based nuclear arsenals, the weapons-grade uranium needed for missiles was becoming quite scarce. In America, the Air Force actually fought against using nuclear material for naval submarine reactors, as it would cut into the production of the nuclear missiles that they controlled. After the USSR leveled the playing field by expanding its number of missiles, however, the nuclear submarine desperately needed to be built to tip the balance of power back towards the West.
In 1955, the most advanced submarine in terms of these nuclear developments was the USS Nautilus. With excellent maneuvering facilitated by her Albacore hull design, the Nautilus had virtually unlimited range thanks to her nuclear power plant. In fact, the Nautilus became the first submarine to navigate under the polar ice cap in 1958. It could be said that the range of a nuclear submarine was now only constrained by the physical limits of her crew. In 1960, the USS Triton, a larger version of the Nautilus, circumnavigated the earth, becoming the first ship to accomplish this feat underwater.
Like the submarine, the missiles that would eventually be launched from their hulls underwent a similar development history. The first submarine missiles were simple cruise missiles mounted on the hull. These missiles, like the Loon and the Chance-Vought Regulus, were really nothing more than converted V-1 buzz bombs. Friedman calls these projectiles “the direct predecessors of the current fleet ballistic missiles.” The only problem with these missiles was their nearly complete lack of guidance systems. V-1 rockets, and the improved Loon and Regulus missiles, were terminal guidance rockets. The V-1 had a Circular Error Probable (CEP) rating of eight nautical miles. When the rocket reached the area of its target, its engine would be shut off by a timer. The high CEP meant that the missile could detonate anywhere in an eight mile circle around the target. Obviously, this kind of accuracy was unacceptable. With the Loon and the Regulus, this problem was combated by placing a second guidance source on another submarine closer to the intended target. The Loon missile had a device which would allow the second submarine to blow off the missile’s wings and tail and cause it to fall “in a more predictable trajectory… lowering CEP to half a mile.” The Regulus bettered this with the addition of steering components for the terminal guidance submarine. As these missiles became more successful, a vigorous development program was planned by the U.S. Navy. However, the invention of the Polaris missile precluded this.
With the development of the hydrogen bomb, the U.S. and other superpowers had a weapon with 1000 times the power of the bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. However, the size of these missiles made them available for use only on B-36 or B-52 bombers. The Polaris missile changed this. The American Polaris class missile submarines, first launched in 1960, incorporated the new, smaller missile design. The first of these subs to launch a ballistic missile was fittingly called the George Washington, but it was her sister ship, the Ethan Allen, that was the first submarine to launch a nuclear missile with a live warhead in 1962. With nuclear missiles now a fixture in the United States Navy, later developments focused on making them lighter and more powerful. The Poseidon missile, first launched in 1968, accomplished these goals. A two-stage rocket with many more multi-impact re-entry vehicles (MIRVs) than its predecessor, the Poseidon also had a feature that made the U.S. rush it into active service. Specifically, fleet submarines of the now outdated Polaris class could launch the Poseidon from their Polaris tubes with minimal modifications.
In the quest to develop even better submarine-launched missiles, the next installment was the Trident missile. The Trident is a larger missile than both the Polaris and Poseidon and it is also several times more powerful. Perhaps the most important innovation on the Trident missile is its guidance system. The Polaris and Poseidon, while quite powerful, required heavy hardware packages to guide their MIRVs to various targets. The new Trident guidance package is much lighter. The system has the ability to sight on a star while tracking towards the target, which gives the Trident two advantages over the Poseidon. First, the missile meets its predecessor’s accuracy objectives while achieving a greater range. Second, the lesser weight of the Trident guidance package allows for more powerful warheads. The Trident I missile carries eight 100 kiloton MIRVs, and its newer relative, the Trident II carries eight 475 kiloton warheads. Obviously, these missiles are some of the most powerful in service with the United States military at this time. The Trident missile is most commonly used aboard the Ohio class submarines of the U.S. Navy. This massive boat bears very little resemblance to the first Nautilus designed by Fulton. As large as a World War I battleship, the Ohio class submarines carry 24 Trident missiles. On top of this firepower, the Ohio is one of the quietest submarines in the oceans with its nuclear power plant. As of the early 1990s, the United States had 32 fleet ballistic missile submarines in service with seven more being built or converted. These numbers include both the Ohio class Trident submarines as well as older classes equipped with the Poseidon missile. Even with the massive destructive capability of the submarines discussed here, further developments are being tested even now. Specifically, the new Seawolf class submarine is the latest United States offering, though it has made slow progress due to budget cuts. It remains to be seen if the future holds an even more powerful submarine launched ballistic missile. Also, it is impossible to tell which nation will be the first to develop it.
Critical Analysis
Critical Analysis
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The article’s main purpose was to paint a picture of the way the African Americans dealt with social justice and the way America’s oppressive prevailing culture denied their freedom. The article also shows the way The United States of America back in the 1960s and 1950s was signified by serious civil resistance operations. These civil resistance operations comprised actions of protest that was nonviolent and civil disobedience that in return resulted in a crisis event and dialogues that were productive amongst the activist and the same government (Tyson, 2020). The article talks about who the Black Power movement was formed through a sub-movement that came out of the civil rights movements. The black person oppression in the article is seen when William recalls as a child the way the African American woman underwent brutality under the white police officer as the black man watched helplessly.
The key question that the author is asking is why are there the injustices of the African American? and why is there oppression by the white culture? This can be seen through the life of Robert William as he shows the way the civil rights movement and the black power movement been frequently displayed in a different manner, yet they came from the same ground, with similar predicaments and mirrored similar quest for freedom of Africa American. The question that the author asks seeks to show the political action of the black that is independent, the cultural pride of the black, and what the author refers to as “armed self-reliance” functioning in the South with tension and in tandem with lawful efforts and protest that is nonviolent.
The most important information in this article is when Williams said that the issue, that the accomplishment of nonviolence hinged on the adversary; William noted that rattlesnakes were resistant to moral petitions, just like the South white terrorists. He argued that when Hitler’s tyranny put the world under threat, much was not heard concerning how it is immoral to bring violence with violence. He managed to draw huge spectators to pacifists’ argument,” George Weissman handled himself very nicely by writing to Carl Braden inside Louisville. He noted that nonviolence is a more potent armament if the challenger is civilized, but the same nonviolence is not a sadist repellent. This piece of information is the best most important in the article as it advocates against war.
The main conclusion in this article is when Williams and his family escaped to New York City, then went to Canada, thereafter they went to Cuba to all this to run away from the FBI agents’ hordes that invaded the countryside in hunt of them. Although he formed a friendship with Fidel Castro and Che Guevara, Williams then was comfortable grew anxious in Cuba; he desired to come back home. Williams did get attacked on his feet by the Cuban Communists by his criticism concerning Communist Party for blocking Negroes away from leadership and that he could not have the capacity to gain back his feet. William did write to a good friend that he was undergoing continuous attack by the U.S Communist Party; he went on to say that the viral was attempting to cut off his facilities in Cuba. He says that somebody could think he was Wall Street and Hitler combined. Weeks after returning, William did meet his death and was buried in Monroe, North Carolina.
The author’s main assumption is that of Black Power, which refers to a political motto and a label that is offered to numerous associated notions that aim to attain personal determination for individuals of African origin. It is mainly, however, not exclusively utilized by the black American activist only. So, the author of the article assumes that through black power, black people can form their own identities in spite of being exposed to societal factors that are preexisting within them. The author says that they can utilize that as a tool for self-protection against observed racial oppression to put up social institutions such as black-owned stores, farms, and cooperatives, amongst others.
If we accept the author’s line of reasoning, the implications are that even after or beyond the movement of Black Power decreasing in the 1970s, its effect would go on to be heard for years and years to come. With the black power emphasis being on the identity of the black race, self-determination, and pride, the Black Power shake everything right from the well-known culture to politics to education, whereas the movements would test to structural inequalities it would also inspire other minority groups like the Native Americans, Chicanos, LGBTQ, and Asian Americans persons to follow their objectives of overpowering discrimination to attain equal rights. However, if we reject the author’s line of reasoning, the implications of Black power could be that it would have many adverse effects. This is because the African Americans would still have been facing oppression from some white supremacists. Also, African Americans’ economic empowerment could have been still low, the rate of racial pride would still have been high. Additionally, the people of color would not have been able to create a political and cultural institution. When writing this article, the author’s point of view may have been influenced by the history of slave trades and there struggle towards freedom.
Reference
Tyson, T. B. (2020). Radio free Dixie: Robert f. Williams and the roots of black power. UNC Press Books.