February 19, 200917 yr From Navy Times Navy celebrates 1,000th Trident sub patrol The Associated Press Posted : Thursday Feb 19, 2009 7:55:47 EST KINGS BAY NAVAL SUBMARINE BASE, Ga. — A coastal Georgia military base is celebrating a milestone for the Navy’s fleet of nuclear-armed submarines — the 1,000th patrol since the first Trident missile sub launched in 1981. Navy Secretary Donald Winter is scheduled to mark the occasion Thursday with other dignitaries at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base near St. Marys. Kings Bay is the East Coast port for the Navy’s Trident submarines. The fleet of 14 Ohio-class submarines was launched during the Cold War as a deterrent to nuclear war. The subs lurk undetected beneath the ocean during 11-week patrols, capable of launching ballistic missiles at targets within 4,000 miles. The 560-foot submarines carry more than half of the U.S. military’s strategic nuclear warheads. [CV32: Rumor has it that the motto for USS Rhode Island (SSBN-740) will be changed to something along the lines of "In hope of everlasting peace ... and that we never get rammed from behind by a Sous-marin Nucléaire Lanceur d'Engins". ]
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