Pair of Trident Missiles Launched in Successful Finish to Test Series

The nuclear submarine Tennessee successfully launched two Trident 2 missiles just 20 seconds apart Monday. The launches ended the Navy’s three-year test program for the weapons and cleared the way for the Tennessee to go on operational patrol with 24 of the nuclear-tipped missiles in March.

The two 44-foot missiles were launched as the Tennessee cruised submerged in the Atlantic 200 miles off Florida. The firings ran the missile’s string of successes to seven straight.

The first shot officially ended the test program; the second qualified the Tennessee for duty with the missiles.

The Navy says the Trident 2, priced at $26.5 million each, is much more accurate than its undersea predecessors, Polaris, Poseidon and Trident 1. Published reports said the weapon’s warheads can strike within 400 feet of their targets, compared with about 1,500 feet for the Trident 1.

Each missile can deliver up to 12 nuclear warheads to targets more than 4,600 miles away.

The test program began in January, 1987, with a series of 19 launches from land, 15 of them successful. Nine submarine tests followed, all from the Tennessee and seven of them successful.

Two of the first three submarine firings last year ended in explosions.