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USS George Washington, the first U.S. missile submarine, successfully launched the first Polaris missile from a submerged submarine on July 20, 1960. The A-2 version of the Polaris missile was essentially an upgraded A-1, and it entered service in late 1961. It was fitted on a total of 13 submarines and served until June 1974.
Polaris missile launch from HMS Revenge in 1983 Sixteen tubes for Polaris A3 Submarine-launched ballistic missiles were carried, in two rows of eight. [ 4 ] The missiles had a range of 2,500 nautical miles (2,900 mi; 4,600 km), [ 7 ] [ 8 ] and each missile could carry three 200 kt (840 TJ) nuclear warheads. [ 9 ]
The United Kingdom's Polaris programme, officially named the British Naval Ballistic Missile System, provided its first submarine-based nuclear weapons system. Polaris was in service from 1968 to 1996. Polaris itself was an operational system of four Resolution-class ballistic missile submarines, each armed with 16 Polaris A-3 ballistic missiles.
The construction was unusual in that the bow and stern were constructed separately before being assembled together with the American-designed missile compartment. The design was a modification of the Valiant-class fleet submarine, but greatly extended to incorporate the missile compartment between the fin and the nuclear reactor. The length was ...
Polaris A-1 on launch pad LC-25A in Cape Canaveral. The world's first operational nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) was USS George Washington (SSBN-598) with 16 Polaris A-1 missiles, which entered service in December 1959 and conducted the first SSBN deterrent patrol November 1960 – January 1961. [6]
The ship was assigned to the 10th Submarine Squadron (United Kingdom) where it operated as the first of the UKs new Polaris based nuclear deterrent. [2]Her Polaris system was updated in 1984 with the Chevaline IFE (Improved Front End) that included two new warheads and re-entry bodies and penaids, super-hardened to resist ABM attack, replacing the original three ET.317 warheads.
USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN-635) was a James Madison-class fleet ballistic missile submarine named for Sam Rayburn (1882–1961), Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (1940–1947, 1949–1953, and 1955–1961). Sam Rayburn was in commission 2 December 1964 to 31 July 1989 carrying the Polaris missile and later the Poseidon missile.
The missile warhead detonated at 23:30 GMT on May 6, 1962, approximately 1.2 miles (2 km) from the designated target point, and at the target altitude of 11,000 ft (3,400 m). The detonation was successful and had the full design yield of the W47Y1 at approximately 600 kilotons. The shot was designed to improve confidence in the US ballistic ...