"Forty-one For Freedom" was the name of the US Navy project which commissioned
and deployed 41 ballistic missile submarines during the worst
days of the cold war. These nuclear powered submarines were
designed to deliver the
first generation of sea-launched Polaris SLBMs to enemy targets in the
event of a nuclear war. The Forty-One For Freedom Fleet Ballistic Missile
program ran from the deployment of the USS George Washington in 1960
until the deployment of
the first of the Ohio-class submarines in late 1981. All submarines were
ordered by the Eisenhower and Kennedy
administrations, and all were delivered by early 1967.
Ballistic missile submarines play two roles in the event of a nuclear war.
One, they are a hidden, mobile force arrayed so that in case of an enemy
attack, the nation being attacked will have a surviving reserve of weapons
with which to retaliate or counterattack.
Two, they can be used in a
surprise attack or preemptive strike to destroy enemy targets, in hopes
of eliminating their ability to counterattack before the enemy has a chance
to respond. The latter role was a particularly frightening
one, given that their missiles could reach targets within enemy territory
within fifteen minutes or less, rather than the 30 to 45 minutes a
land-based, long-range ICBM would take. Their global mobility also made
them more desirable (and much more dangerous) than
land-based, short-range ballistic
missiles. The US program was undertaken
because of their growing fear of Soviet nuclear superiority. This was
driven largely by the launch of Sputnik in 1957, and by the Soviets'
own deployment of submarine-based missiles starting in 1959. Prior to the
space race, nuclear weapons were delivered solely by air, but the development
of ballistic missiles moved nuclear forces onto land and sea. Today,
five of
the nine declared nuclear powers use ballistic missile submarines as part
of their nuclear deterrent, though only the United States has a sizable fleet.
The submarines in the Forty-One for Freedom program were all built over a
span of only seven and a half years, and were a key part of the US nuclear
deterrent throughout their service lifetimes. They all began their service
lives carrying the Polaris missile, but ships of the larger
Lafayette, James Madison and Benjamin Franklin classes were upgraded in the
1970s to
carry the longer-range Poseidon. Each could carry sixteen missiles, and
each missile had a range of between 1200 (Polaris) and 2500 (Poseidon)
nautical miles. The vertical missile tubes were located
just aft of the sail on all ships, and missiles were launched while the
ship was submerged just below the surface. The Poseidon C-3 missles the
newer ships carried were particularly deadly, as they had longer range and
were more accurate
than the Polaris, and could carry up to fourteen MIRVed
warheads. All ships continued operations into the 1980s and some into the
early 1990s, but they have all now been replaced with eighteen
Ohio-class SSBNs, each of which carry 24 Trident missiles.
The Forty-One For Freedom submarines and their missiles
have now been removed from the United States nuclear arsenal, most have
been decommissioned, and some have been stricken from the naval register
and scrapped. Some of these
ships were converted to other roles including attack submarine or
special forces operations
and were operating until very recently. The last active ship, the USS
Kamehameha, was converted for use in an attack role, but was placed in
stand-down in October of 2001 in
preparation for decommissioning. Some of the ships were stricken from the
naval register, and their names were given to
aircraft carriers:
the Theodore Roosevelt (now CV-71), the Abraham Lincoln
(now CV-72), and the George Washington (now CV-73). Only one ship,
the Nathanael Greene,
was "lost" (with no casualties) when it ran aground and sustained heavy damage
in the Irish Sea in early 1986. The ship was recovered and towed to port, but
wasn't repaired or returned to service.
The following is a list of ships in the Forty-One For Freedom program,
with their commissioning and decommissioning dates. What is striking about
the list is the rapid escalation in the number of ships and missiles over such a short span of time. The activation of the George Washington and
Ethan Allen-class ships coincided with the worst days of the
Cold War, just prior to the
Cuban Missile Crisis in October of 1962, and before the Atmospheric Test-Ban
Treaty of 1963 which helped to reduce the nuclear threat somewhat. While the bulk of the ships were delivered in 1963
and 1964, most were ordered two years earlier during the time of highest
tension.
George Washington-Class:
- USS George Washington (SSBN 598): December 31, 1959 - January 24, 1985
- USS Patrick Henry (SSBN 599): April 11, 1960 - May 25, 1984
- USS Theodore Roosevelt (SSBN 600): February 13, 1961 - February 28,
1981
- USS Robert E. Lee (SSBN 601): September 16, 1960 - December 1, 1983
- USS Abraham Lincoln (SSBN 602): March 11, 1961 - February 28, 1981
Ethan Allen-Class:
- USS Ethan Allen (SSBN 608): August 8, 1961 - March 31, 1983
- USS Sam Houston (SSBN 609): March 6, 1962 - September 6, 1991
- USS Thomas A. Edison (SSBN 610): March 10, 1962 - November 30, 1983
- USS John Marshall (SSBN 611): May 21, 1962 - July 22, 1992
- USS Thomas Jefferson (SSBN 618): January 4, 1963 - January 24, 1985
Lafayette-Class:
- USS Lafayette (SSBN 616): April 23, 1963 - August 12, 1991
- USS Alexander Hamilton (SSBN 617): June 27, 1963 - February 23, 1993
- USS Andrew Jackson (SSBN 619): July 3, 1963 - August 31, 1989
- USS John Adams (SSBN 620): May 12, 1964 - March 24, 1989
- USS James Monroe (SSBN 622): December 7, 1963 - September 25, 1990
- USS Nathan Hale (SSBN 623): November 23, 1963 - December 31, 1986
- USS Woodrow Wilson (SSBN 624): December 27, 1963 - September 1, 1994
- USS Henry Clay (SSBN 625): February 20, 1964 - November 5, 1990
- USS Daniel Webster (SSBN 626): April 9, 1964 - August 30, 1990
James Madison-Class:
- USS James Madison (SSBN 627): July 28, 1964 - November 20, 1992
- USS Tecumseh (SSBN 628): May 29, 1964 - July 23, 1993
- USS Daniel Boone (SSBN 629): April 23, 1964 - February 18, 1994
- USS John C. Calhoun (SSBN 630): September 15, 1964 - March 28, 1994
- USS Ulysses S. Grant (SSBN 631): July 17, 1964 - June 12, 1992
- USS Von Steuben (SSBN 632): September 30, 1964 - February 26, 1994
- USS Casimir Pulaski (SSBN 633): August 14, 1964 - March 7, 1994
- USS Stonewall Jackson (SSBN 634): August 26, 1964 - February 9, 1995
- USS Sam Rayburn (SSBN 635): December 2, 1964 - July 31, 1989
- USS Nathanael Greene (SSBN 636): December 19, 1964 - January 31, 1987
Benjamin Franklin-Class:
- USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN 640): October 22, 1965 - November 23, 1993
- USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN 641): October 29, 1965 - February 24, 1995
- USS Kamehameha (SSBN 642): December 10, 1965 - July 1, 1992
- USS George Bancroft (SSBN 643): January 22, 1966 - September 21, 1993
- USS Lewis And Clark (SSBN 644): December 22, 1965 - August 1, 1992
- USS James K. Polk (SSBN 645): April 16, 1966 - April 1, 1992
- USS George C. Marshall (SSBN 654): April 29, 1966 - September 24, 1992
- USS Henry L. Stimson (SSBN 655): August 20, 1966 - May 5, 1993
- USS George W. Carver (SSBN 656): June 15, 1966 - March 18, 1993
- USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN 657): December 3, 1966 - September 2, 1993
- USS Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN 658): December 16, 1965 - March 9, 1995
- USS Will Rogers (SSBN 659): April 1, 1967 - April 12, 1993
This writeup was inspired by a day trip to the USS Nautilus
museum in Groton, CT, a recommended stop if you're in the area. Additional
sources:
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bigger/41forfreedom.html
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/slbm/
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/cno/n87/usw/issue_5/ntlsecurity.html