October 29, 2025:
Of the 32 NATO members, three have nuclear weapons, and SSBN/Ballistic Missile Nuclear Powered Submarines. In addition to the United States, Britain and France also have about 500 nuclear weapons between them and four SSBNs each as well as aircraft to deliver them.
Britain uses American missiles and nuclear warhead variants in its SSBNs while France developed their own. For their next generation of SSBNs, these two countries plan to cooperate on building their own missiles. Both nations have managed to build effective stealthy SSBNs, which was demonstrated in 2009 when two of them collided. Neither sub knew this even after the collision.
France first revealed that its Le Triomphant SSN had collided with some unknown underwater object, causing some damage to its sonar dome. At the time, the crew did not know what they had hit, and assumed that it was a cargo container, floating underwater after having fallen off a ship. It's a common enough occurrence in bad weather. Nothing else seemed to make sense. Ten days later, after the British announced that one of their SSBNs had also collided with something underwater, they compared notes with the French and concluded that the two boats had run into each other. It appears that the bow of Le Triomphant scraped along the side of HMS Vanguard. The French apparently believe that both boats were so quiet that neither boat detected the other, even after the collision. The French revealed that onboard the Le Triomphant the collision could be heard by the crew as bumping and scraping, then silence. There was a damage assessment drill, which came up clean, except for some damage to the sonar dome. That meant
The French later revealed that they did exchange general location data with NATO navies with regard to where their SSN attack submarines were operating. But they consider the SSBNs one of their strategic weapons and thus subject to a higher degree of secrecy. For decades, it was understood that sharing information with all your NATO partners increased the chances of the secrets getting back to Russia. Since only one or two of these SSBNs are at sea at any time, it was believed that collisions would never be a problem. The odds of an underwater collisions were considered so high as to be virtually, but not absolutely, impossible. The U.S., Britain and France quietly got together to work out new procedures to avoid collisions between their increasingly stealthy subs. This is one reason why the next generation French 3G SSBNs are spending a lot of money on improving passive sensors that will detect stealthy subs that get within collision range.
Le Terrible, the last of four current French Triomphant class SSBN, entered service in 2010 and the first 3G SSBN is supposed to enter service in 2035. First generation French SSBNs began entering service in 1971 and they lasted 20 t0 23 years. Triomphant, the first second generation SSBNs is expected to serve for 30 or more years. By 2035 the youngest Triomphant class boat will have been in service for 25 years and one before it for 30 years. The first Triomphant is expected to retire in the late 2020s.
The Triomphant class boats displace 12,600 tons, have a crew of 101 and carry 16 M51 SLBMs/Sea Launched Ballistic Missile. At the time the other three Triomphants, already in service, carried the older M45 missile. These boats received the M51 after the Le Terrible entered service. The Triomphants replaced the six SSBNs of the Redoutable class. These were 9,000-ton boats that entered service in 1971 and began to retire by 1991. Each of these boats carried sixteen of the shorter range 5,000 kilometer M4 missiles. The first Triomphant entered service in 1997 while the last of the six Redoutable SSBNs served until 2008.
In 2008, after more than a decade of development and delays, France finally completed testing the new M51 SLBM. In this case, the missile was fired from an underwater container similar to the silo on a submarine. There followed another successful launch from a French SSBN. M51s weigh 52 tons each, carry six warheads and have a range of 10,000 kilometers. They replace the M45 weighing 35 tons each, carrying six warheads and with a range of 6,000 kilometers. The M51 entered service on schedule in 2010 and has undergone several upgrades so that the 3G SSBNs will use it, at least initially. Currently there are no plans for a new SLBM.
The British SSBNs carry sixteen American Trident II SLBMs that weigh 59 tons each and have a range of 12,000 kilometers. Each missile can carry up to twelve warheads.