Sub Launches Trident 2 on 4th Successful Test
The crew of the nuclear-powered submarine Tennessee launched a Trident 2 missile Monday for the fourth straight successful test flight of the Navy’s newest, most powerful weapon.
The Navy reported that the Tennessee unleashed the 44-foot missile while cruising submerged about 200 miles off Cape Canaveral, Fla., sending its unarmed warhead to an ocean target several thousand miles down the Atlantic tracking range.
The fourth straight successful launch, which followed two fiery failures in the first three tests from submarines last year, kept the Trident 2 on track to be deployed operationally in March.
The Tennessee will be the first submarine to receive operational Trident 2 missiles, after two more test launches.
Each Trident 2-armed submarine will carry 24 of the missiles, each capable of delivering up to 12 nuclear warheads to different targets more than 5,000 miles away.
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