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Caption:
At sea with USS Florida (SSBN 728) Jan. 14, 2003 -- USS Florida
launches a Tomahawk cruise missile during Giant Shadow in the waters
off the coast of the Bahamas. Giant Shadow is a Naval Sea Systems
Command (NAVSEA)/Naval Submarine Forces experiment to test the
capabilities of the Navy's future guided missile submarines.
Florida is one of four Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines (SSBN)
being converted to guided missile submarines (SSGN). Giant Shadow
is the first experiment under the "Sea Trial" initiative of the Chief
of Naval OperationsÕ Sea Power 21 vision and the first in a
series of experiments before converting and overhauling the four SSBNs
to SSGNs. The SSGNs will have the capability to support and
launch up to 154 Tomahawk missiles, a significant increase in capacity
as compared to other platforms. U.S. Navy photo. (RELEASED)
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