I know the title sounds a little bit like clickbait but it's not it's without a doubt an accurate description of this weapon system the Nuclear-Armed Ballistic Missile Submarine is the most deadly weapon system humans have ever created armed with over a dozen missiles each potentially armed with nearly a dozen individual warheads a single submarine has a potential to destroy an entire nation
first a little terminology, the West labels all submarines as SS for submerged sship an SSN like the virginia-class means that the submarine is nuclear-powered and an SSBN the B stands for ballistic missile, due to the needs remain hidden deep in the ocean pretty much all current ballistic missile submarines are nuclear-powered so that they do not need to surface to recharge their batteries also on a side note there are also SSGNs which means it's a nuclear-powered submarine armed with guided cruise missiles such as the first four Ohio-class submarines which were converted to carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles or the new Russian Yasen-class each armed with 40 caliber cruise missiles
the Soviets were the first to develop submarine-launched ballistic missiles the Zullo class submarine carried one scud missile in its conning tower the US were close behind a few years later the USS George Washington was commissioned the submarine was a major leap forward having an extra 40 metre long section built to hold 16 ballistic missiles each with a range of over 2,000 kilometers over, the next 30 years submarines went on to carry more longer-ranged more advanced missiles armed with multiple warheads during the Cold War the superpowers built over 175 ballistic missile submarines combined today seven nations operate ballistic missile submarines the US UK Russia France China India and the recent newcomer North Korea with their Sinpo-class boat
regardless of nation the role of the ballistic missile submarine is the same and that is deterrence deterring a potential enemy from launching a nuclear strike because if they do even if they successfully destroy every airbase and missile silo they know there is likely a ballistic missile submarine out hidden in the ocean that could retaliate because of this fact it is the utmost importance that these submarines remain hidden and undetected like fast attack submarines another type of sub whose purpose is to fight other submarines and ships the ballistic missile sub is also armed with torpedoes but those are only to be used in a last-ditch effort to defend itself
one particularly difficult thing is communicating with the submarines and ordering them to launch their missiles the subs need to remain underwater to avoid detection as radio waves do not travel well in salt water other methods have to be devised, the US and Soviet Union used ELF or extremely low frequency radio transmissions to send messages the lower the frequency the further the radio waves are able to penetrate into the ocean one of the problems though with ELF is that they transmit data very slowly somewhere around one to two letters or characters per minute due to the slow speed the messages sent are believed to simply be orders to move closer to the surface and raise antennas to be able to communicate in the US the orders to launch a nuclear strike would come through what is called an EAM. or an emergency action message these are encrypted messages and broadcast at several times a day seven days a week 365 days a year obviously they are not all orders to strike
these submarines patrolled throughout the world's oceans a ballistic missile submarine patrol typically lasts anywhere from two to four months as most of them are nuclear-powered they can technically stay submerged in on patrol indefinitely limited only by the supplies needed by its crew like food obviously the exact route of the SSBN patrols are kept secret but inference can be made based on a few facts,
1/: they need to be within range of their targets in the early days of the Cold War the missiles carried by the submarines had much shorter ranges requiring them to get much closer to their targets as time went on missile ranges increased allowing subs to patrol further and further away from their targets most modern submarine launched ballistic missiles have ranges of over 8,000 kilometers so this is not much of a problem today.
2/: they need to be safe far away from a searching enemy especially after launching their missiles which gives away their location.
3/: the sub needs to be within range of communication to receive orders and preferably near a friendly port in case of an emergency or need to replenish.
U.S. subs have been known to operate in the northern Atlantic and Pacific Oceans sometimes even in the northern Indian Ocean Soviet and Russian boats under the Arctic and Northern Pacific and British and French patrol between Iceland and Ireland as evidenced in the 2009 collision between two ballistic missile submarines one French the other British, on the other side defending against ballistic missile subs is very difficult as the subs traveled deep in the ocean and at slow speeds in order to avoid creating noise which could be detected by the enemy finding them is extremely complicated each nation would review satellite imagery and other intelligence sources to detect when one left port,
the U.S. also regularly patrol in the vicinity of Russian naval ports with fast attack submarines if a ballistic missile submarine is detected it will be followed so that if the orders ever came it could be quickly sunk if or can fire its missiles the Russians also attempt to do the same although Russian submarine deployments decreased significantly after the Cold War however in recent years Russian sub patrols have been again on the rise due to the difficulty in detecting them in the massive massive damage a single boat can inflict the ballistic missile sub is undoubtedly the most deadly weapon humans have ever invented.
