Ohio-Class ballistic missile submarines
Any proper analysis of the U.S.-Russian military balance or imbalance has to start with their own nuclear arsenals. You might not know this, but the core of America’s strategic deterrent is no one else than the Ohio-class Ballistic Missile Submarine or SSBN.
As one of the three legs of the nuclear trio, America’s fourteen Ohio-class SBBNs offer the most survivable and enduring nuclear strike that could ever exist. Each of those submarines is on the sea 68% of the time, with no less than seventy-seven days at sea, immediately followed by thirty-five days of maintenance. Each SSBN has 560 feet with a beam of 42 feet and weighs 18,750 tons when submerged.
