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| - Named after its lead boat, the Ohio class of nuclear-powered submarines is, as of October 2013, serving with its sole operator, the United States Navy. Fourteen of the eighteen boats are ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), which, along with U.S. Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, constitute the nuclear-deterrent triad of the U.S. The remaining four have been converted from their initial roles as SSBNs to cruise-missile carriers (SSGN). The Ohio-class boats, each displacing 18,750 tons submerged, are the third largest submarines in the world, behind the 48,000-ton Typhoon class and 24,000-ton Borei class of the Russian Navy. The Ohio class replaced the Benjamin Franklin- and Lafayette-class SSBNs.
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| abstract
| - Named after its lead boat, the Ohio class of nuclear-powered submarines is, as of October 2013, serving with its sole operator, the United States Navy. Fourteen of the eighteen boats are ballistic missile submarines (SSBN), which, along with U.S. Air Force strategic bombers and intercontinental ballistic missiles, constitute the nuclear-deterrent triad of the U.S. The remaining four have been converted from their initial roles as SSBNs to cruise-missile carriers (SSGN). The Ohio-class boats, each displacing 18,750 tons submerged, are the third largest submarines in the world, behind the 48,000-ton Typhoon class and 24,000-ton Borei class of the Russian Navy. The Ohio class replaced the Benjamin Franklin- and Lafayette-class SSBNs. The Ohio class was designed in the 1970s to carry the concurrently-designed Trident submarine-launched ballistic missile. Both variants of the Tridents—the UGM-96 Trident I and the UGM-133 Trident II—are propelled by three-stage solid propellant rockets and are equipped with 8–14 nuclear warheads. The 73,000 lb (33,100 kg) UGM-96, with a range of 4,000 mi (6,400 km), served from October 1979, starting with the Benjamin Franklin-class USS Francis Scott Key, until 2006. The 130,000 lb (59,000 kg) UGM-133, with a range of 6,000 mi (9,700 km), is in service as of 2013, having been introduced in 1990 with USS Tennessee. The primary self-defense weapon of the class is the Mk 48 ADCAP torpedo. Ohio-class submarines that carry ballistic missiles receive orders from the United States Strategic Command based in Nebraska. In 1994, the Nuclear Posture Review study determined that, of the 18 Ohio SSBNs the U.S. Navy would be operating in total, 14 would be sufficient for the strategic needs of the U.S. The decision was made to convert four Ohio-class boats into SSGNs capable of conducting conventional land attack and special operations. As a result, the four oldest boats of the class—Ohio, Michigan, Florida, and Georgia—progressively entered the conversion process in late 2002 and were returned to active service by 2008. The boats could thereafter carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles and 66 special operations personnel, among other capabilities and upgrades. The cost to refit the four boats was around US$1 billion (2008 dollars) per vessel. With the first retirement of an Ohio-class boat scheduled for 2029, the U.S. Navy is currently, as of January 2013, undertaking a program tentatively named SSBN-X to study the prospective replacement of the class.
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