“Our Crucial Deterrent” is a circa 1972 color United States Navy film that touts the importance of the Polaris and Poseidon submarine missile programs. An opening crawl quotes President John F. Kennedy in his 1961 State of the Union address and explains his plan to create the crucial deterrent, “a fleet that never will attack first, but will possess sufficient powers of retaliation concealed beneath the sea, to discourage any aggressor from launching an attack upon our security.” At mark 01:30, the viewer is shown scenes from a 1962 meeting and a discussion of how, on May 6, 1962, the submarine USS Ethan Allen (SCB-180) launched a nuclear-armed Polaris A-1 missile (shown at mark 01:50) that detonated at 11,000 feet over the South Pacific. That test was the only complete operational test of an American strategic missile. From there the film jumps to 1972 and near mark 03:00 we witness a successful Poseidon missile test, followed by a tour of one of the submarine that carry the weapons. “Missile-firing orders can come only from the President,” the narrator reminds the viewer at mark 07:35, “and will be acted upon only after absolute confirmation.”
Mark 08:54 begins a brief history lesson on the system, including the SSM-N-8A Regulus, a ship- and submarine-launched, nuclear-armed turbojet-powered cruise missile deployed by the Navy from 1955 to 1964. That is followed by a look at the USS Nautilus (SSN-571), the world’s first operational nuclear-powered submarine, and the USS Observation Island (EAG-154), a vessel which supported fleet ballistic missile development. Mark 13:40 shows the viewer the USS George Washington (SSBN-598), the world’s first operational ballistic missile submarine and the lead ship of her class of nuclear ballistic missile submarines. The USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642) is shown at sea at mark 19:00 as the narrator explains the standard rotation, training, and re-training of crews before embarking on another 60-day patrol. Looking toward the “future,” the narrator explains at mark 23:00 how President Richard M. Nixon, in January 1972, ordered the Department of Defense to “develop a program to build additional missile-launching subs carrying a new and far more effective missile” known as Trident. (Trident missiles were ultimately equipped with thermonuclear warheads and a range capacity greater than 6,000 miles). They were first deployed in 1979.
The UGM-73 Poseidon missile was the second US Navy nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) system, powered by a two-stage solid-fuel rocket. It succeeded the UGM-27 Polaris beginning in 1972, bringing major advances in warheads and accuracy. It was followed by Trident I in 1979, and Trident II in 1990.
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