SSBN = Ballistic missile submarine (nuclear-powered)
SSGN = Guided missile submarine (nuclear-powered)
ASDS = Advanced SEAL (or swimmer) Delivery System

Four of the Ohio-class SSBNs are being converted to SSGNs (the Trident missile tubes being re-worked to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles). Those boats are also being re-fitted to carry SEAL teams (two of the missile tubes to become "lockout" chambers for SEAL egress/ingress.

Thanks for the explanations. Also, I think I heard once that the class of the sub is named after the actual name of the the first sub of that class, i.e. the USS Ohio is the first sub of its class and all the subs built after that of that same class are said to be "Ohio" class subs. Is this true? And is this how we name the Russian subs as well?

Depends on how you look at it. Some of us call them "Tridents" as this is the type of ballistic missle they are carrying. Shoot, some of the old timers might still call them "boomers" as this is the nickname for the earlier ballistic missile submarines. But, for the most part, they are the name ship of the class...Ohio's, just as the Los Angeles class fast attacks are so called.

As for the Russian boats...they are in a whole different world. :rotfl:
The NATO designation for Russian submarines and surface ships are different then what they have designated.

True for US warships in general.

For Russian ships, there are a couple of different ways classes are described:

Many Russian/Soviet warship classes are known by their NATO code names (examples: Victor-class SSN, Oscar-class SSGN, Kara-class cruiser, etc.)
Some are known by their 'first ship in class' name (Udaloy, Sovremennyy)
The Russian military usually uses 'Project' numbers to describe classes. (Example: the Kilo-class diesel sub (NATO designation) is known as the Type 636 to Russians)

Sometimes, there is confusion! Prime example: the Russian SSBN known as 'Typhoon' in the West is called 'Akula' (Type 941) by Russians. This is a different sub from the Akula-class SSN (NATO designation) aka Bars or Type 971 (Russian designation)Type. :doh:

also you got:

PLA
PLARB
PLRB
PLARK
PLRK
PL / PLD
PL/AS

and TLAM niceked the picture i wanted to post :shifty:

the big bulges on that yankee are realy just to accomadate the crews bicycles :up:

They're not for the hot tub? :-j

:up: shhhh thats at the back why the sub sit stern heavy but dont tell the admirals :up:

Cool real world sub
 

Probable one of he Zwaardvis diesel submarines bought to Taiwan by the Dutch.

http://lubbers-line.blogspot.com/200...ine-video.html

Same goes for the submarines of the PRC.

Han, Xia, Ming, Song, and Yuan are all codenames IIRC.

Also lots of Russian support ships get their NATO class names after the shipyard they were built at. For example the Polnocny LSM are built in Polnocny Shipyard Cdansk.

but they made a right mess of the system and its fairly hard to follow for new people on the block

Probably not, but I remember seeing a TV show where they said the Typhoon class boats have pools... and no, I'm not kidding. I believe it was the Discovery series Submarines: Sharks of Steel.

IIRC, someone posted a sonar recording of a Typhoon with men jumping in the pool.

mission invisible a documentary i have on disk shows a man jumping into a pool.

TLAM Strike, kind of off the subject here, but seeing your last post suddenly made me think of a game that I haven't thought about in a looooong time, EV:NOVA!! The EV series is some of my favorite gaming experiences, and my first modding experiences, I played all three EV versions as they went along, but its been at least a few years since I last played NOVA. Is it still going strong, and what's Firerfly all about? Anybody whispering about a next installment of EV? I still have my old Ambrosia T-Shirt, with their cool logo! :rock:

I haven’t heard anything about the next EV, some have said NOVA maybe the last. But a patch for EVN was just release, but I heard some things got messed up so I didn’t install it.

Firefly is a Sci Fi series by Joss Whedon about a crew of smugglers and mercenaries on the run from the law (well its a lot more than that, a description would be about 6 paragraphs long). The show was canceled (By of course FoX) but fan support got a DVD set released (it sold very very well) and Universal bought the rights to make a film (a trilogy in fact), which was released last September and came out on DVD a month ago. The EV: Firefly mod basically follows the life of the Captain Mal Reynolds from the end of the civil war (in which he was a sergeant on the losing side) to the start of the series (and maybe beyond it we haven’t decided that yet.)


http://imdb.com/title/tt0303461/ -Firefly
http://imdb.com/title/tt0379786/ -Serenity
www.fireflyfans.net