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To further clarify, unlike the ships of WW II, today US subs mostly exist for a nuclear second strike capability. The strategy assumes the enemy doesn’t know w
by jdavis703 5y ago
To further clarify, unlike the ships of WW II, today US subs mostly exist for a nuclear second strike capability. The strategy assumes the enemy doesn’t know where all the submarine nukes are, so they’re guaranteed to face nuclear retribution if they initiate an attack.
- oivey 5y agoThis isn’t true, and, as the article states, this submarine is specifically a fast attack sub. It attacks other submarines and ships. That’s still related to nuclear deterrence, but not in the way you’re saying.
- krisoft 5y ago> today US subs mostly exist for a nuclear second strike capability. I understand that you say “mostly”, but it is not quite true. There are many other mission types US submarines serve. There are US submarines which provide nuclear second strike capability yes. There are US submarines which carry land attack cruise missiles. These are mostly used to surpess enemy air defences. There are US submarines clearly optimised for “special missions” such as insertion of special force units or taping underwater cables. Then there are US submarines designed to hunt other submarines. For example the USS Connecticut is a Seawolf-class nuclear powered fast attack submarine. Nuclear powered means that the energy used to propel it forward and power its systems come from a nuclear reactor, it doesn’t necessarily means that it has nuclear armed weapons. ( Some might think that I am stating the obvious here but it is surpisingly common to confuse the terms “nuclear armed” and “nuclear powered”. ) In any case she does not carry the kind of nuclear armed ballistic missiles one would associate with a second strike role.