Submarine - History - Modern Military Models

Modern Military Models

The first launch of a cruise missile (SSM-N-8 Regulus) from a submarine occurred in July 1953 from the deck of USS Tunny, a World War II fleet boat modified to carry this missile with a nuclear warhead. Tunny and her sister boat Barbero were the United States's first nuclear deterrent patrol submarines. They were joined in 1958 by two purpose built Regulus submarines, Grayback, Growler, and, later, by the nuclear powered Halibut.

In the 1950s, nuclear power partially replaced diesel-electric propulsion. Equipment was also developed to extract oxygen from sea water. These two innovations gave submarines the ability to remain submerged for weeks or months, and enabled previously impossible voyages such as USS Nautilus' crossing of the North pole beneath the Arctic ice cap in 1958 and the USS Triton's submerged circumnavigation of the world in 1960. Most of the naval submarines built since that time in the United States and the Soviet Union/Russia have been powered by nuclear reactors. The limiting factors in submerged endurance for these vessels are food supply and crew morale in the space-limited submarine.

In 1959–1960, the first ballistic missile submarines were put into service by both the United States (George Washington class) and the Soviet Union (Hotel class) as part of the Cold War nuclear deterrent strategy.

While the greater endurance and performance from nuclear reactors makes nuclear submarines better for long-distance missions or the protection of a carrier battle group, their reactor cooling pumps have traditionally made them noisier, and thus easier to detect, than conventional diesel-electric submarines. Diesel-electrics have continued to be produced by both nuclear and non-nuclear powers as they lack this limitation, except when required to run the diesel engine to recharge the ship’s battery. Recent technological advances in sound damping, noise isolation, and cancellation have made nuclear subs quieter and substantially eroded this disadvantage. Though far less capable regarding speed and weapons payload, conventional submarines are also cheaper to build. The introduction of air-independent propulsion boats, conventional diesel-electric submarines with some kind of auxiliary air-independent electricity generator, have led to increased sales of such types of submarines.

During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union maintained large submarine fleets that engaged in cat-and-mouse games. The Soviet Union suffered the loss of at least four submarines during this period: K-129 was lost in 1968 (which the CIA attempted to retrieve from the ocean floor with the Howard Hughes -designed ship Glomar Explorer), K-8 in 1970, K-219 in 1986, and Komsomolets in 1989 (which held a depth record among military submarines—1000 m). Many other Soviet subs, such as K-19 (the first Soviet nuclear submarine, and the first Soviet sub to reach the North Pole) were badly damaged by fire or radiation leaks. The US lost two nuclear submarines during this time: USS Thresher due to equipment failure during a test dive while at its operational limit, and USS Scorpion due to unknown causes.

During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Pakistan Navy's Hangor sank the Indian frigate INS Khukri. This was the first kill by a submarine since World War II. In 1971, The PNS Ghazi, a Tench-class submarine on loan to Pakistan from the US, was sunk in the Indo-Pakistani War. It was the first submarine war loss since World War II. In 1982 during the Falklands War, the Argentine cruiser General Belgrano was sunk by the British submarine HMS Conqueror, the first sinking by a nuclear-powered submarine in war.

More recently, Russia has had three high profile submarine accidents. The Kursk went down with all hands in 2000; the K-159 sank while being towed to a scrapyard in 2003, with nine lives lost; and the Nerpa had an accident with the fire-extinguishing system resulting in twenty deaths in late 2008.

India launched its first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, the INS Arihant, on July 26, 2009.

A North Korean submarine's torpedo allegedly sank the South Korean navy ship ROKS Cheonan on 26 March 2010.