The strength of the U.S. Navy is mostly marked by aircraft carriers, which makes many people naturally think that aircraft carriers are the strongest of the U.S. military.
However, after digging deeper, people will find that among the US military equipment that is rarely seen in the public eye, the most powerful killer weapon is actually the Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarine.
In the seventies of the last century, General Motors began to manufacture Ohio-class nuclear submarines for the US military, and has produced a total of 18 of them, of which 14 are ballistic missile nuclear submarines, which are still in service.
The hulls of these nuclear submarines are huge, with a total length of more than 170 meters and a width of about 13 meters, and the maximum underwater displacement reaches an astonishing 1870,000 tons.
The nuclear-powered submarine has a maximum speed of 25 knots, can dive to depths of up to 240 meters, and can operate continuously underwater for 45 days.
The Ohio-class nuclear submarine has a fairly powerful ** system, equipped with 4 533-mm heavy torpedo tubes and a 24-tube missile vertical launch system, which can launch 98 to 124 Axe cruise missiles or carry 24 Trident C-4 D-5 intercontinental missiles.
This means that 14 Ohio-class submarines can carry a total of 336 nuclear bombs. Each carries between 8 and 14 nuclear warheads, and 24 missiles can carry a minimum of 192 nuclear warheads.
Taking the Trident C-4 intercontinental missile as an example, it can carry eight W76 nuclear warheads, each with a yield of 100,000 tons, and a total yield of 800,000 TNT, which is more than 30 times more lethal than the atomic bomb dropped by the US military on Hiroshima, Japan in World War II.
Ohio-class nuclear submarines are capable of carrying 24 such nuclear bombs at a time.
Theoretically, an Ohio-class submarine has enough firepower to destroy 24 large cities, or 190 cities if each nuclear warhead strikes a different target.
And that's just one of the 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines in service. If all 14 of these ships attack a country at the same time, then in just half an hour, its nuclear attack can cover more than 2,600 cities.
In addition, the actual range of the Trident C-4 intercontinental missile is 7400 km, and the theoretical range of the latest model "Trident II" D5 exceeds 110,000 kilometers, the circular probability error can be controlled within 90 meters.
From these data, we can clearly see that the lethality of an Ohio-class nuclear submarine is undoubtedly much higher than that of an aircraft carrier, and the difference can be as much as 100 times.
This also explains why, during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, the Soviet Union vigorously developed submarine forces.
At present, only the Russian Navy's Borean nuclear submarine in the world is comparable to the Ohio-class nuclear submarine of the US military.
The Boreas-Nutris nuclear submarine has an underwater displacement of 24,000 tons and is said to be able to carry 16 Bulava ICBMs. The Soviet Union once had a Typhoon-class nuclear submarine with an underwater displacement ranging from 26,500 to 46,000 tons and could carry 20 of the largest submarine-launched missiles of our time - the R-39 Sturgeon.
An R-39 missile can carry 8 to 10 sub-guided nuclear warheads, each with a yield of 200,000 TNT, and its lethality is almost twice that of the American Trident II.
However, 5 of the 6 "Typhoon-class" ships have been decommissioned or dismantled, and one remaining may still be in service, but its actual combat capability is questionable.
Overall, the presence of Ohio-class strategic nuclear submarines greatly challenges established notions of the strength of the U.S. Navy.
In the face of its great power, people have a new understanding of the necessity of nuclear submarines in modern naval warfare. In the process of maintaining international peace and stability, the importance of nuclear submarines in arms control cannot be ignored.
This is a warning to all countries around the world that they must step up their vigilance to ensure peace and security in the world. This is where the real strength of the US Navy lies.