The USS Nevada, an Ohio-class nuclear-powered submarine carrying 20 Trident ballistic missiles and dozens of nuclear warheads, pulled into the Navy base in the US Pacific Island territory on Saturday. It's the first visit of a ballistic missile submarine — sometimes called a"boomer" — to Guam since 2016 and only the second announced visit since the 1980s.
The Navy says Ohio-class submarines stay an average of 77 of days at sea before spending about a month in port for maintenance and replenishment. "It sends a message — intended or not: we can park 100-odd nuclear warheads on your doorstep and you won't even know it or be able to do much about it. And the reverse isn't true and won't be for a good while," said Thomas Shugart, a former US Navy submarine captain and now an analyst at the Center for a New American Security.
China's Type 094 ballistic missile subs are two times louder than the US subs, and therefore more easily detected, and carry fewer missiles and warheads, CSIS analysts wrote in August.
Philippines Latest News, Philippines Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.