When I was twelve, I helped my daddy build a bomb shelter in our basement because some fool parked a dozen warheads 90 miles off the coast of Florida. Well, this thing could park a coupla hundred warheads off Washington and New York and no one would know anything about it till it was all over. Skip Tyler, from Tom Clancys The Hunt for Red OctoberThese lines describe the fictional Russian submarine Red October from Tom Clancys legendary novel and its film adaptation. What they more properly refer to may be the Ohio-class submarines used by the United States Navy.From Simple Anti-Ship Threat to Ultimate Nuclear PlatformUSS Ohio, first of the Ohio-class submarines. Source: Wikimedia CommonsUp until about World War II, dominance on the open seas relied on the size of gigantic, well-armed ships which could unleash immense firepower against other ships and coastal towns. The submarine changed both the nature of naval warfare and, combined with ballistic missile technology and the political realities of the Cold War, the way nations engage with one another.Initially, a submarine was an anti-ship weapon, used against other warships and to disrupt enemy supply lines. When rocket technology was developed after World War II, and then combined with nuclear weapons, submarines became an increasingly undetectable underwater weapons platform which could strike any nation at almost any time. The Ohio-class submarine is the ultimate combination of stealth and strike ability so far devised.How an 18,000-Ton Nuclear Submarine Stays Completely Hidden UnderwaterAnechoic tiles on the hull of HMS Triumph. Source: Wikimedia CommonsSeveral factors make the Ohio-class submarine possibly the most dangerous warship devised.It is practically undetectable by both active and passive sonar. Inside, giant shock absorbers reduce the internal vibrations of the nuclear reactor, and the pump-jet propulsor used to propel the ship is quieter than regular propellers. Anechoic tiles on the hull reduce the footprint of the submarine in the water. The tiles absorb and distort sound waves from active sonar, and reduce the sounds from inside the submarine itself, making it less detectable to passive sonar. Anechoic tiles of some sort are used on almost all submarines now, but when combined with the other sound-dampening measures of the Ohio-class submarines, they make the giant subs almost impossible to detect in the water.Inside the Arsenal and the Catastrophic Firepower of the Ohio-ClassUSS Maine firing Trident II missile. Source: (US Navy/MC2 Thomas Gooley) via Navalnews.comThe Ohio-class submarines are outfitted for two different purposes. 14 of the subs carry 20 UGM-133 Trident II ballistic missiles, each with 4 nuclear warheads. The missiles can be launched from shallow underwater depths (classified, but speculated to be under 100 meters), with a range of at least 4,600 miles. The long range means an Ohio-class submarine can target a location in western Russia easily from the Atlantic Ocean.Four of the Ohio-class submarines are used as cruise missile platforms for the BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM). Cruise missiles have a shorter range than ballistic missiles, have far less destructive capacity, and no longer carry nuclear warheads. Ohio-class submarines can carry up to 154 TLAMs, often with warheads for different purposes, and many were used in recent actions such as Operation Epic Fury.What this means is an Ohio-class submarine can hide underwater undetected from thousands of miles away, not even rise to the surface of the ocean, fire a nuclear missile, and leave from its firing position without ever being seen.Next-Gen Dominance and What Replaces the Worlds Most Terrifying SubmarineUSS Kentucky firing a Trident II missile. Source: Wikimedia CommonsThe four Ohio-class submarines used as cruise missile platforms are being retired by 2028, and will likely be replaced by smaller specialized Virginia-class submarines. The Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines will have a longer life until at least 2040 and will eventually be replaced by the Columbia-class submarine, which will be even quieter than the Ohio-class.