HOME
LAUNCHING A MISSILE
The missile that Ohio class submarines carry is the
Trident D5. At nearly 50 ft long and 7 ft wide, it
is a relatively large missile for two main reasons.
1. Range: It must hold enough fuel to reach a low orbit,
since orbiting gives a longer range than flying. 2.
MIRV: Any one missile is capable of holding up to 14
nuclear warheads, each being independently
targeting. With a 24 missile capacity, the Ohio
class has a total payload potential of 336 warheads, each
being about 32x more powerful than the bomb dropped on
Hiroshima.
JUST THE LAUNCH
The Trident D5's ability to navigate and land makes for
interesting reading, but this section will only cover
launching since this site is about the submarine, not the
missile.
IMAGE SOURCE: Submarine
Group Nine, Facebook
IMAGE
SOURCE: Amy
Eckert
Preparation for a missile launch starts with coming to a
shallow depth and starting up the hovering system,
described here. The
systems and procedures leading up to the launch are quite
complicated, so I am fortunate that the information is
protected and I can avoid talking about it.
Eventually, the point is reached where the hatch on top of
the missile tube is opened followed by more procedures and
then finally the actual launch occurs. A
step-by-step rundown is as follows:
- An explosive is set off within a steam generator, instantly flashing the water to steam.
- The steam expands rapidly, causing steam flow into the missile tube.
- This flow of steam provides the lift necessary to push the missile against gravity out of the tube.
- As the missile travels to the surface, the steam has a second effect of providing a blanket around the missile, preventing it from coming in contact with the ocean. This helps minimize the amount of energy to reach the surface since the ocean would have higher drag than the steam.
- With sufficient momentum, the missile rises above the surface completely where gravity promptly stops upward movement at the projectile's apex point.
- Just after this point, the missile begins to fall back down, which is detected by an accelerometer on the missile, signaling for it to ignite it's rocket engines.
- With the rocket engines fired, the missile is now on
it's way to space.
With the launch of these two test missiles, the Navy spent almost exactly the same amount as the 2020 proposed budget cut to the University of Alaska. Your tax dollars at work at the tune of $70 million per missile.