The 5 Most Dangerous Submarines in the World

They could literally kill billions of people.

TNI Staff [2]

While they have thankfully never been used during a shooting war, nuclear-powered submarines carrying nuclear-tipped missiles are the most deadly weapons mankind has ever devised. In some cases—as in the case of the Ohio-class submarine during the height of the Cold War—even a single vessel could reduce as many as 288 city-sized targets into radioactive ash in less than 30 minutes. Indeed, these vessel and their payloads could end human civilization in less time than it takes to order a pizza if a third world war were to break out.

In this article, we have picked five of the most capable nuclear-armed submarines [3]that are either in service or will soon enter service. Older vessels such as the Soviet Union’s massive Project 941 Akula—known in the West as theTyphoon— [4]are not included because those vessels have been largely retired and dismantled. Only Dmitriy Donskoy remains in service with the Russian Navy as a test vessel stripped of her ballistic missile armament.

Ohio-class Ballistic Missile Submarine

The United States Navy’s Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine c [5]an carry 24 UGM-133 Trident II D5 submarine [6] launched ballistic missiles that can each carry as many as twelve W88 475 kiloton thermonuclear warheads. With the sheer accuracy of the Mk5 reentry vehicle, which has a circular error of probability of less than 90 meters, the Ohio-class and its Trident II missiles have the capability to be used as first strike weapons. Under the 2010 Nuclear Posture Review, the United States expects to maintain a total of 14 Ohio-class submarines, with two in repair at any given time. These days, each Ohio carries 20 missiles for a total fleet of 240 deployed Trident IIs. As of 2016, nine Ohio-class submarines are deployed in the Pacific while another five are assigned to the Atlantic.

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