For the first time since the 1980s a United States (US) nuclear armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) visited South Korea as the allies launched talks to coordinate their responses in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea.
Both the US and South Korea’s defence ministry has confirmed the submarine’s arrival.
The submarine has been identified as the USS Kentucky, an Ohio class SSBN.
Worth mentioning that US SSBNs rely on stealth to ensure their survival and preserve their ability to launch nuclear missiles during a war, and they rarely make public stops in foreign ports.
The United States has pledged to deploy more strategic assets such as aircraft carriers, submarines and long-range bombers to South Korea to deter North Korea, which has developed increasingly powerful missiles that can hit targets as far away as the United States.
Notably, the U.S. Navy fields 14 SSBNs, often referred to as ‘boomers’.
These Ohio-class submarines carry 20 Trident II D5 missiles, each of which can deliver up to eight nuclear warheads to targets as far as 12,000 km (7,500 miles) away.
