The U.S. Navy Surfaced Three Missile Submarines Simultaneously As a Warning to China
By
Eli Fuhrman
030814-N-0000X-003 Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Wash. (Aug. 14, 2003) -- Illustration of USS Ohio (SSGN 726) which is undergoing a conversion from a Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN) to a Guided Missile Submarine (SSGN) designation. Ohio has been out of service since Oct. 29, 2002 for conversion to SSGN at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard. Four Ohio-class strategic missile submarines, USS Ohio (SSBN 726), USS Michigan (SSBN 727) USS Florida (SSBN 728), and USS Georgia (SSBN 729) have been selected for transformation into a new platform, designated SSGN. The SSGNs will have the capability to support and launch up to 154 Tomahawk missiles, a significant increase in capacity compared to other platforms. The 22 missile tubes also will provide the capability to carry other payloads, such as unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs), unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and Special Forces equipment. This new platform will also have the capability to carry and support more than 66 Navy SEALs (Sea, Air and Land) and insert them clandestinely into potential conflict areas. U.S. Navy illustration. (RELEASED)
Back in 2010, the concept of great power competition – and particularly as it relates to the intensifying strategic rivalry between the United States and China in the Western Pacific – that is today so pervasive in Washington had not yet emerged as an all-consuming focus of American foreign policy.
Former President George W. Bush, during his presidential campaign in 2000, may well have altered this reality had events played out differently; the former President pushed back against the Clinton administration’s labeling of the U.S.-China relationship as one of strategic partnership and instead framed it as one defined by strategic competition. Fateful events would alter the administration’s focus, however, and a policy in accordance with this label never manifested.
By 2010, that situation remained unchanged.
https://www.19fortyfive.com/2021/07/the-u-s-navy-surfaced-three-missile-submarines-simultaneously-as-a-warning-to-china/
