SSGNs can't carry SLBMs and are instead armed with up to 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles. In 2002, the US began converting four Ohio-class boats into cruise missile submarines, designated SSGNs. They are also the most heavily armed, with four torpedo tubes and 24 Trident II D-5 SLBMs. Each displaces 18,750 tons submerged and measures 560 feet long and 42 feet wide. Ohio-class submarines are the largest in US history. USS Ohio undergoing conversion to a new class of guided missile sub at Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, Washington, March 15, 2004. Some were also modified to assist in intelligence gathering and special-operations missions, receiving electronic equipment and dry deck shelters for deploying Navy SEALs.
These classes went through extensive modifications and upgrades that enabled them to conduct both anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare missions with dozens of torpedoes and missiles. The largest SSN classes were the Permit class (14 subs), Sturgeon class (37 subs), and the Los Angeles class (62 subs). The six boats of the Skipjack class were the first with a teardrop hull, which all future submarines had, and the Permit class were the first SSNs armed with nuclear anti-submarine missiles. Seawolf and Nautilus were followed by 11 classes of SSNs, each with unique features. Stennis after an undersea warfare exercise in the Pacific, February 12, 2009.
US Navy submarine USS Seawolf, bottom, Japan destroyer JS Oonami, left, and US Navy aircraft carrier USS John C.
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