Avro Lancaster

During World War II, the Allied Air Forces dropped a total of 2.7 million tons of bombs from approximately 1.4 million bomber sorties in the European Theatre of Operations.

Boeing B-29 Superfortress

In the Pacific Theatre, the Allies dropped almost 660 thousand tons of bombs on the Japanese-held islands and on the Japanese mainland.

USS Pennsylvania (SSBN-735)

Each Ohio-Class Ballistic Missile Submarine (SSBN) carries 24 Trident II/D5 Missiles, each of which can carry up to 12 multiple independent targetable re-entry vehicles (MIRV) with W88 475 Kiloton nuclear warheads.

The total equivalent TNT tonnage of those warheads for each Ohio Class SSBN is therefore 136.8 million tons, or approximately 40 times the total tonnage dropped by the Allied Air Forces in World War II!!

There are fourteen ships of this class fitted as SSBNs. There are, in addition to the Ohio Class of the USN; four ships of the Vanguard Class in the Royal Navy; four of the Triomphant Class of the French Navy; six ships in the Chinese and thirteen in the Russian Navies classified as SSBNs with similar striking power to that carried by the Ohio Class.1

Adding to the destructiveness of the enormous striking power of SSBNs is the fact that they are virtually impossible to detect before they fire their weapons, thousands of kilometres away from their intended targets.

Sources:

Captain (N) (Ret’d) M. Braham, CD – Mike Braham is a graduate of the Royal Military College (1965) and a former naval officer and senior official with DND. He has an abiding interest in military history.