The most powerful military weapon on the planet. That the world has ever known. Period. Carrying twenty-four Trident II D-5 nuclear missiles with the range to reach anywhere on the planet, the Ohio Class nuclear missile submarines have kept America safe from nuclear aggression. Diving deeper and travelling quieter than any submarine before, the Ohio's were the pinnacle of American submarine technology. The early ballistic missile submarines ("boomers") were Skipjack Class attack submarines cut in half with a missile section added in. The Ohio's could be compared to a Los Angeles Class attack submarine also cut in half. This is due to the Ohio Class having a full "fast attack" torpedo room with the same amount of weapons. This meant that after firing it's missiles, the Ohio's were still bad-ass underwater platforms.
The provisional age of a submarine for diving purposes is thirty years or so. Rather than decommission the Ohio's as they "turned thirty," the US Navy came up with a novel idea: a guided missile submarine (SSGN). The first four Ohio Class (the oldest) were taken in hand and converted for a new role which does not require the deep diving so needed by boomers. Twenty of the missile tubes were removed and in their place were inserted "sleeves" containing seven-round Tomahawk launchers. The remaining four of the tubes were removed and a hangar and supply/staging area was provided for Navy special forces (SEAL) mini-subs and other gear. As the Tomahawk launchers do not take up four floors like the Trident missile did, extra room was provided for SEAL berthing. Over a hundred SEALs are able to be embarked.
Although the Tomahawks carried are the "land attack" variant with submunitions, bunker busting warheads, etc, any variant of Tomahawk can be employed. So technically, nuclear tipped Tomahawks could be carried should America find itself short of strategic delivery platforms. The completed ship is pretty much an enemie's worst nightmare. Over a hundred SEALs with over a hundred Tomahawk's sitting right off of any coast at any time. The four were completed ahead of schedule and the first two were assigned to the Pacific Fleet at Bangor, Washington (USS Ohio and USS Michegan). The other two, USS Florida and USS Georgia, were assigned to the Atlantic Fleet at Kings' Bay, Georgia. Since completion, all four have taken part in the operations in Iraq and also in Afghanistan.
Our kit is one of the famous DML USS Ohio versus Soviet Alpha kits. The kits are full hull and come with a load of extras and options. The kits are separated at the waterline so it's easy to leave the bottom hull half off of the kit and have a perfect waterline ship (which is what I've done). The SEAL shelter/hangar on the back of the sub is actually a 72nd scale aircraft bomb sanded and shaped to the exact dimensions. In tiny 1/700th scale you can get away with that. In larger scale like 1/350th (which I also plan to do) I'll have to come up with something different. The kit builds pretty quickly having at most, ten parts. And the color scheme is pretty easy - Tamiya Semi-Gloss Black for the all-over color and Testors Modelmaster Acrylic Aircraft Interior Black for the anti-skid/missile deck path down the middle.
The kits build great with no fit problems and they are about as accurate as you're going to get. Even the fancy resin boys don't have the correct number of vents and ports so any protestations from the accuracy nazi's fall on deaf ears. The hatch detail for the missiles and the safety track are pretty accurate and their are loads of real-life photos of these ships in port and at sea so no company should be excused for getting that wrong. The sale is in two pieces and you get a handful of masts and scopes to use but if you choose not to use the scopes, you must cover over the holes in the top of the sail. No ruler in the photo, but when built, they are pretty large for 1/700th scale submarines. The DML kit is out of production but occassionally shows up in bargain bins. The kit has markings for all eighteen of the class.
Interesting you should comment on this kit's relative accuracy, as (and I suppose this makes me somewhat of an Accuracy Nazi ) I had already been wondering about this kit's bow shape - a feature almost universally inaccurate on the old, classic nuke kits - and I would not be surprised to see a more accurate nose for the Ohios revealed, one day. Also I'd love to see a certified-accurate drawing of the vents/hatches/fixtures (especially on the bow). Perhaps I will have to be the first to surf NavSource and create one myself, here in the Unclassified World...
This DML Alfa/Ohio is another little pair-of-subs kit that I, too, have built and I concur with your assessment - except that the hulls are not actually waterlined but equally-split between upper- and lower halves: your Georgia's top half is riding extremely high in the water (especially astern). Meantime, sweet job in bashing out the little Dry-Deck Shelter - and flawless paint job, as usual.
Again, I'm not a big fan of Tomahawks (nor their lineal descendants, the drones - of all stripes), as I think these ended up (whether or not by original design,) used simply to massacre/terrorize civilians - as also are today's Seals. See: use in Iraq and Afghanistan - I rest my case. The Good News - in addition to only 4x of the Ohios being so converted - is that modular "sleve"-installations for the Tomahawk clearly leaves the door open for quick/easy reversion back into Trident-capable boats. In the event that Honest Terror - i.e., the threat to blow up (effectively) the whole world - is ever again needed, from these very labor- and engineering-intensive modern marvels of technology. As Americans, these are (for better or worse) our group investments...
And I had no idea the Ohios retained all the same torpedo-room capabilities - especially full equivalency in the types and numbers of rounds - as the fast-attack boats. Also interesting (which I had never thought of, before) is a typical 30-year service life for a deep-diving hull - surprising, as even surface ships don't generally last more than 30-40 years (tops) in service, anyway.
I'd say the Cold War boomers - along, of course with SAC ICBM and massive bomber fleets - kept America free from any aggression, of any type. Except, of course, the inside jobs: attacks on USS Liberty, on USS Cole, US embassies and ambassadors and the crowning blow of 911 - and anything/everything else which may yet be done by Al CIA-da, and/or its Friends. But total, world-war - suddenly, within rapidly blossoming Capitalism over the last century threatening to become a permanent fixture of human existence - was effectively put-paid by nuclear weapons, and their utter unstoppability. Especially and above all, as deployed on ballistic-missile submarines.
That was indeed an awesome achievement - almost as great, in its Good, as the depth of the Evil, in conceiving Total War in the first place...
Well, today in welcome alternative we instead have Total Modelling - at which you, sir, exhibit Full-Spectrum Dominance! Seriously Donny, Thank You, for another great subject, and great post, buddy!