The UUM-44 SUBROC (SUBmarine ROCket) was a type of

submarine A submarine (or sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability. The term is also sometimes used historically or colloquially to refer to remotely op ...

-launched

rocket A rocket (from it, rocchetto, , bobbin/spool) is a vehicle that uses jet propulsion to accelerate without using the surrounding air. A rocket engine produces thrust by reaction to exhaust expelled at high speed. Rocket engines work entirely fr ...

deployed by the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

as an anti-submarine weapon. It carried a 250 kiloton thermonuclear warhead configured as a

nuclear depth bomb A nuclear depth bomb is the nuclear equivalent of the conventional depth charge, and can be used in anti-submarine warfare for attacking submerged submarines. The Royal Navy, Soviet Navy, and United States Navy had nuclear depth bombs in their ...

Development

SUBROC was one of several weapons recommended for implementation by

Project Nobska Project Nobska was a 1956 summer study on anti-submarine warfare (ASW) for the United States Navy ordered by Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Arleigh Burke. It is also referred to as the Nobska Study, named for its location on Nobska Point near ...

, a 1956 summer study on

submarine warfare Submarine warfare is one of the four divisions of underwater warfare, the others being anti-submarine warfare, mine warfare and mine countermeasures. Submarine warfare consists primarily of diesel and nuclear submarines using torpedoes, missi ...

. Development began in 1958, with the technical evaluation being completed in 1963. SUBROC reached Initial Operation Capability (IOC) aboard the attack submarine ''Permit'' in 1964. When SUBROC reached IOC, the US Navy's admiral in charge of weapons procurement stated that SUBROC was "…a more difficult technical problem than

Polaris Polaris is a star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor. It is designated α Ursae Minoris ( Latinized to ''Alpha Ursae Minoris'') and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that ...

Operation

SUBROC could be launched from a 21-inch submarine torpedo tube. After launch, the solid fuel rocket motor fired and SUBROC rose to the surface. The launch angle then changed and SUBROC flew to its destination following a predetermined ballistic trajectory. At a predetermined time in the trajectory, the reentry vehicle (containing the warhead) separated from the solid fuel motor. The 250 kiloton W55

, dropped into the water and sank rapidly to detonate near its target. A direct hit was not necessary. The W55 was in diameter, long, and weighed . Some sources suggest the W55 evolved from the experimental bomb tested in the Hardtack I Olive nuclear test on July 22, 1958, which had a full two-stage yield estimated at 202 kilotons. Researcher Chuck Hansen claims based on his US nuclear program research that the W55 and

W58 The W58 was an American nuclear bomb, thermonuclear warhead used on the UGM-27 Polaris, Polaris A-3 submarine-launched ballistic missile. Three W58 warheads were fitted as multiple warheads on each Polaris A-3 missile. The W58 was in diameter a ...

warheads shared a common

primary Primary or primaries may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music Groups and labels * Primary (band), from Australia * Primary (musician), hip hop musician and record producer from South Korea * Primary Music, Israeli record label Works * ...

or fission first stage, and that this design was nicknamed the

Kinglet primary Kinglet was a boosted fission primary used in several American thermonuclear weapons. The W55 warhead for the UUM-44 SUBROC anti-submarine missile and the W58 warhead for Polaris A-3 were designed to use Kinglet, while the W47 warhead for Polari ...

by Hansen in 2001.Beware the old story
by Chuck Hansen
''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''
March/April 2001 pp. 52-55. SUBROC's tactical use was as an urgent-attack long-range weapon for time-urgent submarine targets that could not be attacked with any other weapon without betraying the position of the launching submarine by calling for an air-strike, or where the target was too distant to be attacked quickly with a torpedo launched from the submarine. The tactical rationale for SUBROC was similar to that for

ASROC The RUR-5 ASROC (for "Anti-Submarine Rocket") is an all-weather, all sea-conditions anti-submarine missile system. Developed by the United States Navy in the 1950s, it was deployed in the 1960s, updated in the 1990s, and eventually installed ...

Ikara Ikara is a town in Kaduna State, northern Nigeria, located around 75 kilometres north-east away from the city of Zaria. Ikara as a district consist of five towns which are Ikara, Tudun - wada, Nasarawa, Sabon - Gari, Jamfalan, Kurmin - Kogi, Hay ...

. An added advantage was that SUBROC's approach to the target was not detectable by the target in time to take evasive action, although the warhead yield would appear to make evasive maneuvers unrealistic. However, SUBROC was less flexible in its use than Ikara or ASROC: since its only payload was a nuclear warhead, it could not be used to provide stand-off fire in a conventional (i.e., non-nuclear) engagement. SUBROC production ended in 1968. SUBROC was never used in combat, and all 285 W55 warheads were decommissioned in 1990 following the end of the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

. Because the nuclear warhead was an integral part of the weapon, SUBROC could not be exported to other navies, and there is no evidence that any were supplied to other NATO allies under the well-established arrangements for supplying other dual-key nuclear weapons. In 1980 a planned successor, the

UUM-125 Sea Lance The UUM-125 Sea Lance, known early in development as the ''Common ASW Standoff Weapon'', was to be an American standoff anti-submarine missile, initially intended to carry a W89 thermonuclear warhead. It was conceived in 1980 as a successor to ...

, was authorized. In 1982 the contract was awarded to

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

. The system and its

W89 The W89 was an American thermonuclear warhead design intended for use on the AGM-131 SRAM II air to ground nuclear missile and the UUM-125 Sea Lance anti-submarine missile. What was to become the W89 design was awarded to the Lawrence Livermore N ...

warhead were cancelled in 1990 at the end of the Cold War.

References

*Jackson, Robert. ''Submarines of the World'', Pg. 312

External links

Astronautix article on the UUM-44A

{{US missiles Cold War anti-submarine weapons of the United States Anti-submarine missiles of the United States Cold War nuclear missiles of the United States Ballistic missiles of the United States Anti-submarine weapons Military equipment introduced in the 1960s

Development

Operation

See also

References

External links