en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Virg…

On 13 November 2024, Virginia accidentally sailed into the nets of Øygutt, a fishing vessel, near the island of Senja, Norway. The Øygutt was fishing for halibut at the time of the incident. The Virginia was able to successfully free itself without further damage to the submarine.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virginia…

In my day there were two kinds of nuclear-powered submarines in the US Navy: SSNs (fast attacks) and SSBNs (ballistic missile submarines, or "boomers"). SSBNs existed (and still exist) primarily to fire ballistic missiles, though they also had (and presumably still have) the ability to fire torpedoes. SSNs existed primarily to fire torpedoes.

More recently there have been SSGNs. The G is for "guided missile." The Virginia class subs are SSNs, not SSGNs, but they fire cruise missiles. It's not clear from the article if they can also use torpedoes. It's also not clear from the article whether the cruise missiles are fired from horizontal tubes like torpedoes or from vertical tubes like ballistic missiles.

Warning: The rest of this comment is technical, pedantic, and wordy.

A ballistic missile is any projectile that, by the time it strikes its target (or the warheads it releases strike their targets) is no longer under thrust. That's what the word "ballistic" means. Bullets fired by firearms are ballistic. When a projectile is ballistic, it is only influenced by gravity and air friction.

A cruise missile, in contrast, is under thrust all the way to its target. This enables it to change course at any time between being launched and striking its target.

Torpedoes are used against surface ships or submarines and not targets on land. Cruise missiles don't have this limitation. When a torpedo launched from a sub strikes its target, it is often not clear where the torpedo came from. Cruise missiles can replace torpedoes in ship-to-ship combat, but when a sub launches them, it reveals its location. That's a disadvantage.

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles exist to be used against targets on land. They are not battlefield or "tactical" weapons; they are "strategic" weapons. Tactical weapons are used to win battles, but strategic weapons are used to win an entire war, all by themselves. This is why weapons called "strategic" are usually nuclear weapons.

I've already made my opinion about the continued deployment of nuclear weapons clear; nuclear weapons must be eliminated, completely.