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At "greater than 25 knots", an Ohio can move all of about 6nmi from the launch point in 15min.

Let's assume that a 10kt warhead has a kill radius of about 1nmi (deliberately underestimating this, ASROC had a 4nmi safety distance for its 10kt warhead). A 100kt warhead will have a kill radius of about 3nmi, a 1Mt warhead a kill radius of about 9nmi (inverse square rule at work).

A 750kt warhead (the size carried by the SS-18Mod5) will have a kill radius of about 8.25nmi under that assumption. And the SS-18Mod5 carries 10 of those. 7 warheads in a hexagonal pattern, with about 12nmi separation so that every part of the ocean under the pattern is within the kill radius of at least one warhead, will cover an area about 40nmi across in the kill zones of the warheads, much farther than an Ohio can travel in the time it takes to retarget the missile, launch, and flight time. Scratch one Ohio.

My strategic calculus says that's a fair trade, one SS-18Mod5 fully loaded for 22 Tridents.

<blockquote data-quote="Scott Kenny" data-source="post: 615029" data-attributes="member: 43359">At &quot;greater than 25 knots&quot;, an Ohio can move all of about 6nmi from the launch point in 15min. Let's assume that a 10kt warhead has a kill radius of about 1nmi (deliberately underestimating this, ASROC had a 4nmi safety distance for its 10kt warhead). A 100kt warhead will have a kill radius of about 3nmi, a 1Mt warhead a kill radius of about 9nmi (inverse square rule at work). A 750kt warhead (the size carried by the SS-18Mod5) will have a kill radius of about 8.25nmi under that assumption. And the SS-18Mod5 carries 10 of those. 7 warheads in a hexagonal pattern, with about 12nmi separation so that every part of the ocean under the pattern is within the kill radius of at least one warhead, will cover an area about 40nmi across in the kill zones of the warheads, much farther than an Ohio can travel in the time it takes to retarget the missile, launch, and flight time. Scratch one Ohio.My strategic calculus says that's a fair trade, one SS-18Mod5 fully loaded for 22 Tridents.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Scott Kenny, post: 615029, member: 43359"] At "greater than 25 knots", an Ohio can move all of about [B][I]6nmi[/I][/B] from the launch point in 15min. Let's assume that a 10kt warhead has a kill radius of about 1nmi (deliberately underestimating this, ASROC had a 4nmi safety distance for its 10kt warhead). A 100kt warhead will have a kill radius of about 3nmi, a 1Mt warhead a kill radius of about 9nmi (inverse square rule at work). A 750kt warhead (the size carried by the SS-18Mod5) will have a kill radius of about 8.25nmi under that assumption. And the SS-18Mod5 carries 10 of those. 7 warheads in a hexagonal pattern, with about 12nmi separation so that every part of the ocean under the pattern is within the kill radius of at least one warhead, will cover an area [B][I]about 40nmi across[/I][/B] in the kill zones of the warheads, much farther than an Ohio can travel in the time it takes to retarget the missile, launch, and flight time. Scratch one Ohio. My strategic calculus says that's a fair trade, one SS-18Mod5 fully loaded for 22 Tridents. [/QUOTE]

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