From persevering through technical problems in World War II, to shadowing our adversaries from below, the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad quietly stands the watch
Unseen and Undetected—Our Strategic and Tactical Ace in the Hole
Earliest Iterations and World War II
The U.S. Submarine Service was effectively born on April 11, 1900, when the U.S. Navy purchased its first modern submarine—the USS Holland (SS-1), which was commissioned later that year. Prior to that, however, the U.S. had put into action the first combat submarine (the Turtle, in 1776), which in September of 1776 was successful in sneaking up on a British ship but was unsuccessful in attaching explosives to it.
While the U.S. employed submarines in World War I to locate German submarines, it was not until World War II that U.S. submarines made a substantial wartime contribution. In the Pacific Theater alone, the U.S. submarine force accounted for more than half a million tons of Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ships, which represented more than half of the IJN’s losses during the war; American submarines also sank nearly 5 million tons of merchant ships during the war.
Operating mainly out of bases in Australia and Pearl Harbor (given the loss of their bases in the Philippines shortly after the attack at Pearl Harbor), American submarines had a hard time being combat-effective early in the war, given the technical deficiencies of the Mark XIV torpedoes, which suffered from issues that made them pass underneath their intended targets and from detonator failures. At first, their premature detonation was the result of being fitted with automatic magnetic detonators that were designed under a different magnetic field than that of the area where they were to be employed, and then even their point-contact detonators had issues as well. Once these various issues were finally worked out, the American submarine force in WWII became a truly effective fighting force.
The Cold War and Present Force
Following WWII, the U.S. began developing and fielding derivatives of the German V-1 flying bomb (an early cruise missile) and then other, newer submarine-launched missiles, such as the Regulus I (which is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Udvar-Hazy Center) and the Regulus II (which is on display at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, Texas). Eventually, the advent of the Polaris missile brought the ability for submarines to be able to launch missiles while still submerged, leading to increased survivability and lethality by allowing for a strike without being detected. Once the Polaris A-2 and A-3 missiles came online (which had greatly increased range and accuracy compared to the A-1), submarines were being purpose-built for service as ballistic missile submarines (SSBNs). With the later Polaris variants and then the subsequent Poseidon variants, SSBNs gained the ability to launch ballistic missiles with multiple warheads, increasing the ability for each SSBN to first guarantee successful strikes against enemy targets, and then later, to be able to hold several targets at risk. Today, SSBNs operate with Trident II missiles that serve as arguably the most survivable leg of the nuclear triad, which are able to hold multiple targets at risk nearly anywhere across the world.
The U.S. Navy's present fleet of submarines—which consists of SSNs, SSBNs, and SSGNs—provides a combination of strategic nuclear deterrence, anti-submarine and anti-surface attack capabilities, and the ability to conduct intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, in addition to being able to covertly insert Navy SEALs on special operations. Together, the current fleet of U.S. submarines allows the Navy to provide an unmatched combination of strategic and tactical capabilities that even peer or near-peer forces would find incredibly difficult to stop or defend against.
For more on how the U.S. Submarine Service became the strategic and tactical bulwark it has become:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Henry Breault (1923—Limon Bay, Canal Zone, Panama)
John P. Cromwell (1943—Off Truk Island, South Pacific)
Samuel D. Dealey (1944—Off Tawi Tawi, Philippine Islands)
Eugene B. Fluckey (1944—Namkwan Harbor Along the Coast of China)
Howard W. Gilmore (1943—Southwest Pacific)
Richard H. O’Kane (1944—Vicinity of Formosa Straits, Philippine Islands)
Lawson Paterson “Red” Ramage (1944—Off Taiwan)
George L. Street III (1945—Quelpart Island Harbor, Korea)
In partnership with
This special exhibition is part of the Dallas Chapter MOWW Gallantry & Service Museum. Click the logo below to experience more stories of courage in battle, and faithful service to our nation.
