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The ''Benjamin Franklin''-class submarine was a group of US ballistic missile submarines that were in Navy service from the 1960s–2000s. The class was an evolutionary development from the earlier of fleet ballistic missile submarine. Having quieter machinery and other improvements, they are considered a separate class. A subset of this class is the re-engineered 640 class starting with . The ''Benjamin Franklin'' class, together with the , , , and classes, comprise the "41 for Freedom" that were the Navy's main contribution to the nuclear deterrent force through the late 1980s. This class and the ''James Madison'' class are combined with the ''Lafayette''s in some references. ==Design== The ''Benjamin Franklin''-class submarines were built with the Polaris A-3 ballistic missile, and in the early 1970s were converted to carry the Poseidon C-3 missile. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, six boats were further modified to carry the Trident I (C-4) missile, along with six ''James Madison''-class boats. These were ''Benjamin Franklin'', ''Simon Bolivar'', ''George Bancroft'', ''Henry L. Stimson'', ''Francis Scott Key'', and ''Mariano G. Vallejo''.〔 Due to the loss of in April 1963, this class was designed to SUBSAFE standards and its equipment was similar to the ''Sturgeon'' class fast attack submarines (SSNs). Previous US SSBNs except the ''George Washington'' class had equipment similar to the ''Thresher'' class SSNs. This class can be distinguished by the fairwater planes' location halfway up the sail; the ''Lafayette''s and ''James Madison''s had the fairwater planes in the upper front portion of the sail. Two submarines of this class were converted for delivery of up to 66 SEALs or other Special Operations Forces each. In the early 1990s, to make room for the ballistic missile submarines within the limits set by the SALT II strategic arms limitation treaty, the ballistic missile tubes of and were disabled. Those boats were redesignated special operations attack submarines and given attack submarine (SSN) hull classification symbols. They were equipped with dry deck shelters to accommodate SEAL Delivery Vehicles or other equipment.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Benjamin Franklin-class submarine」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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