M.Ennulat+Nuclear+Powerpoint+2

__Nuclear powered submarines__

Nuclear powered submarines were developed during the Cold War, a struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, from 1945 to 1991. The United States threatened any enemy with nuclear obliteration. To back this up, they made the “Strategic Triad” which included long-range bombers, land-based missiles, and submarines, all nuclear forces. In 1950 the Navy created two nuclear powered submarines, fast attacks and boomers.

The smaller, cylindrical, submarines are the fast attacks. Their purpose is to track down enemy submarines. They are three hundred and sixty feet long and thirty-three feet wide. The larger submarines are the boomers. The boomers have nuclear missiles that are used in battle against enemy ships, to protect the United and States and its allies. These submarines are known for being able to operate quietly, rapidly, and independently. They are also able to go for long periods of time.

Nuclear submarines carry offensive and defensive weapons such as torpedoes, mines, acoustic countermeasure devices, cruise missiles, strategic missiles, and Ballistic missiles. Torpedoes are used for defense and offense. Only the fast attacks can lay mines, which an enemy submarine might hit. Acoustic countermeasure devices create noisy decoys to throw off an enemy’s submarines sonar and homing torpedoes. Cruise missiles are jet-propelled with warheads and are accurate enough to target single buildings. The strategic missiles have nuclear warheads and can destroy an entire city from thousands of miles away. And the Ballistic missiles are the most powerful of a submarine’s weapons. The missile receives an initial burst of momentum and then has route after launching, which has no power.

Submarines are still used today in U.S. foreign policy. Some of the fast attack submarines are still in use today while others have been decommissioned. New and different designs are being built such as the USS Seawolf (SSN-21) and the USS Virginia (SSN-774). These new designs are meant to lower the cost of building submarines, improve the technology, and so they can accomplish different types of missions.

A fast attack on top↓ A boomer on the bottom↑

Bibliography http://americanhistory.si.edu/Subs/intro/index.html http://www.virginiabase.org/ http://americanhistory.si.edu/Subs/weapons/index.html http://americanhistory.si.edu/Subs/future/progress/index.html