ABSTRACT
Evolutionary improvements followed in the 1960s in a logical progression, each providing a marked improvement in missile range and expected damage. Increased range, of course, was noted readily as that quality that provided additional patrol area for the submarines, permitting them additional assurance of avoiding detection. A “hunting license” from the chief of naval operations, Admiral Arleigh Burke, gave Raborn and his talented technical team, headed by Captain Levering Smith, carte blanche to pull top performers or dollars from wherever required to do the job of putting missiles at sea in nuclear submarines. A special panel of 12 of the most experienced and capable commanding officers of nuclear submarines was convened by Admiral Zumwalt to study and recommend the speed and power requirements for the future submarine. The “cult of technology,” recognizing the technologies that threaten intercontinental ballistic missiles and bombers, feels compelled to question the future survivability of submarines.
