Launching a missile from a distance and under complete protection is not combat, its a live-fre exercise.

 

We only used the Ohio-class cruise missile subs to get rid of some old ordnance.  Any, ANY ship in the navy or aircraft in the Air Force could have completed their mission, so no combat badge for you! 

Well, is launching a Torpedo against a ship underway "combat" by your definition? It was a military vessel but posed very little threat to a nuclear submarine.

 

The Ohio's have a distinct advantage in terms of firing volume and stealth, yes, in that situation neither were particularly essential but to class any form of military strike as being in a class of engagement that isn't combat requires a new definition that applies to whichever set of convoluted rules you have in mind... It clearly was a combat mission by any standard measure of the word.

 

R 

"It clearly was a combat mission by any standard measure of the word."

 

True.

 

And like I said there is precious little difference between a live-fire exercise and a combat mission when you are unopposed.  Especially when the target is some hundreds of kilometers away. 

 

Put it another way:  launching cruise missiles and calling it 'Combat' is like dropping a brick out the window of a 10 story building onto a crowd below and saying you were in a fight.