| Alfred Leo Pelletier "God Bless America" |
Below is a picture of the Land Level Facility at General Dynamics' Electric Boat Shipyard in Groton, Connecticut. The submarine in the water was the Ohio. The boat on the pier was the Michigan. It was the second boat of the Ohio Class of Trident submarines. This picture was taken in 1979 for the keel laying ceremony of the third Trident submarine. At this point it was known as the "28 boat", and was no more than the round ring you see on the pier between the two boats. It was eventually named the Georgia (SSBN-728). While the Ohio looked like it was ready to go it was actually two more years after this picture was taken before it went on its first sea trial. |
The Trident/Ohio class of submarines were designed to patrol the oceans for months at a time carrying up to 24 long range ballistic
missiles.
Below is a picture of one of the subs in port, and in the 'garage' where missiles were loaded and unloaded. Even with the hatches open
you couldn't see the missiles themselves. Each missile tube was covered with a fiberglass dome that kept the water out of the tube until a
split second after the missile launch sequence got to the good part. Just before the missile bumped into the dome as it was being
jettisoned out of the tube, explosive cord in the fiberglass broke the dome up into several pie-shaped wedges. The missile then continued
on its way to the surface where, after it was fully clear of the water, the engine ignited, and the missile and its warheads (if it had any)
proceeded on to ruin someone's day.
| First missile shot off the coast of Florida in March of 1982. This was a Trident C-4 missile and was the second missile launched from the Ohio. |
