Benjamin Franklin-class Submarine

The ''Benjamin Franklin'' class of US ballistic missile submarines were in service from the 1960s to the 2000s. The class was an evolutionary development from the earlier of fleet ballistic missile submarine. Having quieter machinery and other improvements, it is considered a separate class. A subset of this class is the re-engineered 640 class starting with . The primary difference was that they were built under the new SUBSAFE rules after the loss of , earlier boats of the class had to be retrofitted to meet SUBSAFE requirements. The ''Benjamin Franklin'' class, together with the , , , and ''James Madison'' classes, comprised the "41 for Freedom" submarines that were the Navy's primary contribution to the nuclear deterrent force through the late 1980s. This class and the ''James Madison'' class are combined with the ''Lafayette''s in some references.

Design

The ''Benjamin Franklin''-class submarines were built with the Polaris A-3 ballistic missile, and in the early 1970s were converted to carry the Poseidon C-3 missile. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, six boats were further modified to carry the Trident I (C-4) missile, along with six ''James Madison''-class boats. These were ''Benjamin Franklin'', ''Simon Bolivar'', ''George Bancroft'', ''Henry L. Stimson'', ''Francis Scott Key'', and ''Mariano G. Vallejo''.

In response to the loss of in April 1963, this class was designed to SUBSAFE standards and its equipment was similar to the fast attack submarines (SSNs). Previous US SSBNs except the ''George Washington'' class had equipment similar to the SSNs.

This class can be distinguished by the fairwater planes' location halfway up the sail; the ''Lafayette''s and ''James Madison''s had the fairwater planes in the upper front portion of the sail.

Two submarines of this class were converted for delivery of up to 66 SEALs or other Special Operations Forces each. In the early 1990s, to make room for the ballistic missile submarines within the limits set by the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty, the ballistic missile tubes of and were disabled. Those boats were redesignated special operations attack submarines and given attack submarine (SSN) hull classification symbols. They were equipped with dry deck shelters to accommodate SEAL Delivery Vehicles or other equipment.

Fate

The ''Benjamin Franklin''s were decommissioned between 1992 and 2002 to comply with SALT II treaty limitations as the SSBNs entered service, for their age, and because of the collapse of the Soviet Union. USS ''Kamehameha'' was decommissioned on 2 April 2002, the last ship of the ''Benjamin Franklin'' class to be decommissioned.

The sail of ''George Bancroft'' is preserved at the Naval Submarine Base King's Bay, Georgia. ''James K. Polk''s sail is on display at the National Museum of Nuclear Science & History
in Albuquerque, New Mexico. ''Mariano G. Vallejo''s sail is preserved at Mare Island, California, where she was built. The sail of ''Lewis and Clark'' is on display at the Patriot's Point Maritime Museum in Charleston, South Carolina.

Boats in class

See also

* List of submarines of the United States Navy
* List of submarine classes of the United States Navy

References

Citations

Sources

*Gardiner, Robert and Chumbley, Stephen (editors). ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995''. Annapolis, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1995. .
*Polmar, Norman. ''The Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet: Twelfth Edition''. London:Arms and Armour Press, 1981. .
US Naval Vessel Register - List of SSBN BALLISTIC MISSILE SUBMARINE (NUCLEAR-POWERED) Class vessels
*

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benjamin Franklin Class Submarine
Submarine classes

Benjamin Franklin class