Navy began work on nuclear-powered submarines in 1946.
The two knew each other well: Mark was named head of the theoretical division of Los Alamos in 1947, a job that was originally offered for Teller.
Created at the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory, this Ships Inertial Navigation System (SINS) was supplied to the Navy in 1954.
"Red" Raborn as head of a Special Project Office to develop Jupiter for the Navy in late 1955.
It was led by Rear Admiral William Raborn. On September 13, 1955, James R.
They launched the first one, the in 1955.
In 1956, during an anti-submarine study known as Project Nobska, Edward Teller suggested that very small [bomb] warheads were possible.
At the seminal Project Nobska conference in 1956, with Admiral Burke present, nuclear physicist Edward Teller stated that a physically small one-megaton warhead could be produced for Polaris within a few years, and this prompted Burke to leave the Jupiter program and concentrate on Polaris in December of that year.
In the summer of 1956, the navy sponsored a study by the National Academy of Sciences on anti-submarine warfare at Nobska Point in Woods Hole, Massachusetts, known as Project NOBSKA.
By mid-July 1956, the Secretary of Defense's Scientific Advisory Committee had recommended that a solid-propellant missile program be fully instigated but not using the unsuitable Jupiter payload and guidance system. By October 1956, a study group comprising key figures from Navy, industry and academic organizations considered various design parameters of the Polaris system and trade-offs between different sub-sections.
Waves and swells rocking the boat or submarine, as well as possible flexing of the ship's hull, had to be taken into account to properly aim the missile. The Polaris development was kept on a tight schedule and the only influence that changed this was the USSR's launching of SPUTNIK on October 4, 1957.
Forty more SSBNs were launched in 1960 to 1966. Work on its W47 nuclear warhead began in 1957 at the facility that is now called the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by a team headed by John Foster and Harold Brown.
In 1957 Chief of Naval Operations Arleigh Burke and First Sea Lord Louis Mountbatten began corresponding on the project.
ceased to be available (such as at Lockheed, which had moved on first to the Poseidon and then to the Trident missile). == Italy == During its reconstruction program in 1957–1961, the was fitted with four Polaris missile launchers located in the aft part of the ship.
When Teller was questioned about the application of this to the FBM program, he asked, ‘Why use a 1958 warhead in a 1965 weapon system?’ Mark disagreed with Teller's prediction that the desired one-megaton warhead could be made to fit the missile envelope within the timescale envisioned.
The XN6 was a system designed for air-breathing Cruise missiles, but by 1958 had proved useful for installment on submarines. A predecessor to the GPS satellite navigation system, the Transit system (later called NAVSAT), was developed because the submarines needed to know their position at launch in order for the missiles to hit their targets.
Two American physicists, William Guier and George Weiffenbach, at Johns Hopkins's Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), began this work in 1958.
A computer small enough to fit through a submarine hatch was developed in 1958, the AN/UYK-1.
This was known as the A-3T ("Topsy") and was the final production model. == Polaris A-1 == The initial test model of the Polaris was referred to as the AX series and made its maiden flight from Cape Canaveral on September 24, 1958.
This led the Navy to suggest, starting around 1959, that they be given the entire nuclear deterrent role.
The missile launched, separated, and splashed into the Atlantic 300 miles off shore. It was in between these two tests that the inertial guidance system was developed and implemented for testing. July 1, 1959: AX-11 at Cape Canaveral from a launch pad: this launch was successful, but pieces of the missile detached causing failure.
The first Polaris submarine tender was , a World War II tender that was refitted in 1959–60 with the insertion of a midships missile storage compartment and handling crane.
A crash program to develop a missile suitable for carrying such warheads began as Polaris, launching its first shot less than four years later, in February 1960. As the Polaris missile was fired underwater from a moving platform, it was essentially invulnerable to counterattack.
The original schedule was to have a ship-based IRBM system ready for operation evaluation by January 1, 1960, and a submarine-based one by January 1, 1965. However, the Navy was deeply dissatisfied with the liquid fuel IRBM.
missile submarine, successfully launched the first Polaris missile from a submerged submarine on July 20, 1960.
Forty more SSBNs were launched in 1960 to 1966. Work on its W47 nuclear warhead began in 1957 at the facility that is now called the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by a team headed by John Foster and Harold Brown.
The Navy accepted delivery of the first 16 warheads in July 1960.
Pacific Fleet crews were based at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. Two Polaris missile depots were established in the United States, Polaris Missile Facility Atlantic (POMFLANT) at Charleston, South Carolina in 1960 and later Strategic Weapons Facility Pacific (SWFPAC) at Bangor, Washington.
After the cancellations of the Blue Streak and Skybolt missiles in the 1960s, under the 1962 Nassau Agreement that emerged from meetings between Harold Macmillan and John F.
As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1996. In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missile project with the U.S.
The A-2 version of the Polaris missile was essentially an upgraded A-1, and it entered service in late 1961.
Prior to 1961, the Italian and Turkish fleets were outfitted with Jupiter missiles.
In 1962, the price for each Minuteman chip was $50.
On May 6, 1962, a Polaris A-2 missile with a live W47 warhead was tested in the "Frigate Bird" test of Operation Dominic by in the central Pacific Ocean, the only American test of a live strategic nuclear missile. The two stages were both steered by thrust vectoring.
Four additional Polaris tenders (, , , and ) were commissioned 1962–65. A two-crew concept was established for SSBNs, combined with forward deployment to maximize the time each submarine would spend on patrol.
After the cancellations of the Blue Streak and Skybolt missiles in the 1960s, under the 1962 Nassau Agreement that emerged from meetings between Harold Macmillan and John F.
In 1963, the Polaris Sales Agreement led to the Royal Navy taking over the United Kingdom's nuclear role, and while some tests were carried out by the Italian Navy, this did not lead to use. The Polaris missile was gradually replaced on 31 of the 41 original SSBNs in the U.S.
The Polaris Sales Agreement was signed on April 6, 1963. In return, the British agreed to assign control over their Polaris missile targeting to the SACEUR (Supreme Allied Commander, Europe), with the provision that in a national emergency when unsupported by the NATO allies, the targeting, permission to fire, and firing of those Polaris missiles would reside with the British national authorities.
That program was cancelled in 1975 after Italy ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with the final launch of the third prototype in 1976. Two Italian Navy cruisers, commissioned in 1963–1964, were "fitted for but not with" two Polaris missile launchers per ship.
This was especially important in the first few years of Polaris, because Transit was not operational until 1964.
The first Polaris submarine outfitted with MRV A-3's was the USS Daniel Webster in 1964.
In the Pacific, a Polaris base was also established at Guam in 1964.
Although in 1964 the new Labour government considered cancelling Polaris and turning the submarines into conventionally armed hunter-killers, it continued the program as Polaris gave Britain a global nuclear capacity—perhaps east of Suez—at a cost £150 million less than that of the V bomber force.
When Teller was questioned about the application of this to the FBM program, he asked, ‘Why use a 1958 warhead in a 1965 weapon system?’ Mark disagreed with Teller's prediction that the desired one-megaton warhead could be made to fit the missile envelope within the timescale envisioned.
The original schedule was to have a ship-based IRBM system ready for operation evaluation by January 1, 1960, and a submarine-based one by January 1, 1965. However, the Navy was deeply dissatisfied with the liquid fuel IRBM.
By 1965 microchips similar to the Texas Instruments units made for the Minuteman II were being purchased by the Navy for the Polaris.
Forty more SSBNs were launched in 1960 to 1966. Work on its W47 nuclear warhead began in 1957 at the facility that is now called the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory by a team headed by John Foster and Harold Brown.
The price dropped to $2 in 1968. === Polaris A-3 === This missile replaced the earlier A-1 and A-2 models in the U.S.
On 15 February 1968, , the lead ship of her class, became the first British vessel to fire a Polaris.
All four launchers were built but never installed, and were stored at the La Spezia naval facility. The , launched in 1969, was also "fitted for but not with" four Polaris missile launchers.
The 10 older SSBNs that could not use Poseidon were assigned to the Pacific Fleet in the 1970s.
In the late 1970s it was decided that Pacific Fleet Ohio-class SSBNs would be based at Bangor, WA, collocated with SWFPAC, and that the refitted Trident I SSBNs and additional Ohio-class SSBNs would be based at a new facility in King's Bay, Georgia.
"The British Decision to Upgrade Polaris, 1970–4", Contemporary European History (2013) 22#2 pp. 253–274. Moore, R.
Navy by the MIRV-capable Poseidon missile beginning in 1972.
The forward-basing arrangement was continued when Poseidon replaced Polaris, starting in 1972, in what by then were the 31 Atlantic Fleet SSBNs.
Navy began to replace Polaris with Poseidon in 1972.
The ULMS II missile system was designed to be retrofitted to the existing SSBNs, while also being fitted to the proposed Ohio-class submarine. In May 1972, the term ULMS II was replaced with Trident.
It was fitted on a total of 13 submarines and served until June 1974.(1).
Its existence was only revealed in 1980, partly because of the cost overruns of the project, which had almost quadrupled the original estimate given when the project was finally approved in January 1975.
That program was cancelled in 1975 after Italy ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with the final launch of the third prototype in 1976. Two Italian Navy cruisers, commissioned in 1963–1964, were "fitted for but not with" two Polaris missile launchers per ship.
That program was cancelled in 1975 after Italy ratified the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, with the final launch of the third prototype in 1976. Two Italian Navy cruisers, commissioned in 1963–1964, were "fitted for but not with" two Polaris missile launchers per ship.
The cost of the project led to Britain's revisit of disbanding the program in 1977.
To transport missiles and other supplies from the missile depots to the forward deployment bases, several cargo ships were converted to carry missiles and were designated as T-AKs, operated by the Military Sealift Command with a mostly-civilian crew. The advent of the Trident I missile, refitted to 12 Atlantic Fleet SSBNs starting in 1979 and with a much greater range than Polaris or Poseidon, meant that SSBNs could be based in the United States.
The SSBN facility at Rota was closed in 1979 as King's Bay began refitting submarines.
During the 1980s, these missiles were replaced on 12 of these submarines by the Trident I missile.
The 10 - and SSBNs retained Polaris A-3 until 1980 because their missile tubes were not large enough to accommodate Poseidon.
As commenced sea trials in 1980, the 10 remaining Polaris submarines in the Pacific Fleet were disarmed and reclassified as SSNs to avoid exceeding SALT II treaty limits.
Its existence was only revealed in 1980, partly because of the cost overruns of the project, which had almost quadrupled the original estimate given when the project was finally approved in January 1975.
During refit periods in 1980–1983, these facilities were removed and used for other weapons and systems. == Operators == Royal Navy United States Navy Marina Militare (tests only, never fully operational) == References == Notes Bibliography == Further reading == Parr, Helen.
The 18 s, slated to replace the 41 older SSBNs, also started commissioning in 1981, initially carrying 24 Trident I missiles but later refitted with the much larger and more capable Trident II missile.
It began in 1985 in response to concerns that the supply of surplus Minuteman I boosters used to launch targets and other experiments on intercontinental ballistic missile flight trajectories in support of the Strategic Defense Initiative would be depleted by 1988.
The study examined three options: Place the program in a dormant status, but retain the capability to reactivate it. Terminate the program. Continue the program. When the STARS program was started in 1985 it was perceived that there would be four launches per year.
It began in 1985 in response to concerns that the supply of surplus Minuteman I boosters used to launch targets and other experiments on intercontinental ballistic missile flight trajectories in support of the Strategic Defense Initiative would be depleted by 1988.
By 1992, the Soviet Union had collapsed, 12 Ohio-class SSBNs had been commissioned, and the START I treaty had gone into effect, so Holy Loch was closed and the remaining 31 original SSBNs disarmed.
The first STARS I flight, a hardware check-out flight, was launched in February 1993, and the second flight, a STARS I reentry vehicle experiment, was launched in August 1993. The third flight, a STARS II development mission, was launched in July 1994, with all three flights considered to be successful by BMDO.
The Secretary of Defense conducted a comprehensive review in 1993 of the nation's defense strategy, which drastically reduced the number of STARS launches required to support National Missile Defense (NMD)2 and BMDO funding.
STARS I was first launched in 1993, and from 2004 onwards has served as the standard booster for trials of the Ground-Based Interceptor. == British Polaris == From the early days of the Polaris program, American senators and naval officers suggested that the United Kingdom might use Polaris.
The development phase of the STARS program was completed in 1994, and BMDO provided about $192.1 million for this effort.
The first STARS I flight, a hardware check-out flight, was launched in February 1993, and the second flight, a STARS I reentry vehicle experiment, was launched in August 1993. The third flight, a STARS II development mission, was launched in July 1994, with all three flights considered to be successful by BMDO.
As of December 1994, seven first-stage and five second-stage refurbished motors were available for future launches.
The operational phase began in 1995.
As the United States Navy's first SLBM, it served from 1961 to 1996. In the mid-1950s the Navy was involved in the Jupiter missile project with the U.S.
Chevaline was withdrawn from service in 1996. Though Britain adopted the Antelope program methods, no input on the design came from the United States.
The Minuteman guidance systems each required 2000 of these, so the Polaris guidance system may have used a similar number.
government as a research and development contribution. In 2002, the United States Navy announced plans to extend the life of the submarines and the D5 missiles to the year 2040.
STARS I was first launched in 1993, and from 2004 onwards has served as the standard booster for trials of the Ground-Based Interceptor. == British Polaris == From the early days of the Polaris program, American senators and naval officers suggested that the United Kingdom might use Polaris.
2005. Various authors – The History of the UK Strategic Deterrent: The Chevaline Programme, Proceedings of a Guided Flight Group conference that took place on October 28, 2004, Royal Aeronautical Society.
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