US Navy Columbia Class Nuclear-Armed Submarines: Peace Through Threat of Annhilation

By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization

(Washington DC) 

Columbia-Class Submarine: What Do We Know? Lurking secretly in dark waters around the world and holding potential adversaries at risk of nuclear destruction from unknown locations, US Navy’s nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines offer the backbone of U.S. strategic deterrence.

Undersea strategic deterrence essentially guarantees second-strike retaliatory catastrophic destruction of any adversary who attacks the U.S. with nuclear weapons, thus preventing war by ensuring the complete annihilation of any country that attacks with nuclear weapons.

The promise of total destruction, somewhat paradoxically one might say, keeps the peace.

Columbia-Class Submarine – Lurking Threat

This conceptual premise is why, for many years now, the Pentagon has identified the now emerging Columbia-class nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines as a number one DoD acquisition priority. After years of science and technology, prototyping, and advanced design specs, the U.S. Navy is now building its first Columbia-class submarine, slated to arrive at the end of the decade.

Designed to replace the aging fleet of Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, which have performed admirably for decades, well beyond their expected service life, the Columbias will introduce a wide sphere of new technological leaps forward in the realm of the undersea.

The innovations woven into the Columbia-class submarines are numerous. Perhaps the most significant of these innovations is the new, ultra-quiet electric drive propulsion system, replacing legacy hydraulic systems.