Submarine-launched ballistic missile

A ballistic missile designed to be launched from a submarine, usually while submerged. Many carry nuclear warheads and provide a sea-based leg of a nuclear deterrent.

Cold launch: A missile-launch method that ejects a missile from its tube before igniting its main motor. Many submarine missiles are expelled from the launch tube before their rocket motors ignite.
Nuclear triad: A state's nuclear forces organized around land-based missiles, strategic bombers, and submarine-launched missiles. Submarine missiles form the sea-based component of this three-part force structure.
Polaris missile: The United States' first operational submarine-launched ballistic missile, deployed in 1960. Polaris established the modern pattern of solid-fueled missiles carried by nuclear-powered submarines.
Intercontinental ballistic missile: A ballistic missile designed to travel between continents, typically launched from land. It shares a long-range ballistic trajectory but is generally based on land rather than at sea.
Mutual assured destruction: A deterrence condition in which opposing nuclear powers can each inflict catastrophic retaliation. Survivable submarine forces helped make retaliation possible even after a surprise attack.
Submarine-launched ballistic missile launch sequence: The staged process by which a submarine ejects, ignites, and guides a ballistic missile. This breaks the missile's transition from submerged tube to powered flight into stages.
Second-strike capability: The ability to retaliate with nuclear weapons after absorbing an enemy's first attack. Submerged patrols help keep some missiles available after an attack on land-based forces.
USS George Washington: The United States' first ballistic-missile submarine, commissioned in 1959. Its first patrol with Polaris missiles made the sea-based ballistic-missile force operational.
Submarine-launched cruise missile: A cruise missile launched from a submarine that flies through the atmosphere toward its target. Unlike a ballistic missile, it remains powered and follows an aerodynamic route for much of its flight.
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks: U.S.–Soviet negotiations that produced agreements limiting aspects of strategic nuclear arms. Submarine forces and their launchers became subjects of superpower arms-control negotiations.

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