Evolution of the Naval Cruise Missile

The term “cruise missile” refers to an unmanned, expendable, aerodynamic vehicle, usually propelled by an air-breathing (jet) engine and carrying a conventional or nuclear warhead. Cruise missiles can be easily distinguished from ballistic missiles by their “wings” which provide aerodynamic lift. (page ix)

For over three decades, the TLAM (Tomahawk Land Attack Missile) has been the US Navy’s signature precision-guided weapon, and a primary tool of American foreign policy. Like most advanced weapon systems, it is the product of a long and complex evolution that reaches back to experiments with radio-controlled aircraft before World War II.

The first mass-produced operational cruise missile was the German V-1 “buzz bomb” (nicknamed from the sound of its pulse-jet engine). More than 22,000 of these relatively inaccurate weapons were fired at London, Antwerp and other targets in 1944-1945. Based on recovered German V-1’s, the US rapidly developed a copy, the JB-2 Loon, which came too late for use in the war against Japan.

In 1955, the Regulus I cruise missile, developed by the Chance Vought Aircraft Company, entered service with the U.S. Navy. Deployed on four modified diesel electric submarines (one of these, USS Growler, survives as a museum ship alongside the carrier Intrepid in New York City). Regulus I also deployed on one unique nuclear submarine, USS Halibut (SSGN-587), and briefly on a few heavy cruisers and aircraft carriers. It carried a W5 or later W27 nuclear warhead intended for strategic strikes, particularly against Soviet targets on the Kamchatka peninsula. A recoverable version, fitted with landing gear was used for training. The Regulus II, a supersonic version with a range of 1,200 nautical miles (2,200 km) was cancelled in 1958 when it became apparent that the submarine-launched Polaris ballistic missile could perform the same mission more effectively. The last Regulus I missiles were withdrawn from service in 1964, but proved useful for years as target drones.

The Air Force, despite its deep cultural resistance to the idea of pilotless aircraft, also developed several strategic cruise missiles, including the supersonic Navaho (which never entered service), the Snark, and the short-ranged Matador and Mace. These were soon rendered obsolete by rapid progress in ballistic missile technology in the 1960’s.

Russia developed a long series of cruise missiles during the Cold War, notably the P-5 (SS-N-3C Shaddock) which entered service in 1959. Fitted with either a nuclear or conventional warhead, it was deployed on submarines, surface ships and land bases. The P-70 Ametist (SS-N-7 Starbright) was the first cruise missile designed to be fired from a submerged submarine. To hunt US aircraft carriers, Russia built very large “Oscar” class submarines (Project 949 Granit and 949A Antey) fitted with 24 launch tubes for the long-range supersonic P-700 (SS-N-19 Shipwreck) missile.

The US Tomahawk family of cruise missiles was made possible by four advances in technology: guidance (terrain contour matching, digital scene mapping and area correlation), computing power, reliable small turbofan engines, and high-energy fuels. Initially deployed as an anti ship missile in 1982, Tomahawk was developed into a land attack missile with an accuracy of plus or minus a few meters and used successfully in DESERT STORM in 1991. A nuclear warhead version served briefly (1987-1992). The design was constrained by the limits of a submarine torpedo tube (21-inch diameter, 20.5 foot length, and maximum weight of 4,200 pounds).

Strike From The Sea will be enjoyed by readers with an interest in military technology, the Cold War, and modern naval history. Norman Polmar is the author of over fifty books on a variety of naval topics. John O’Connell (1930-2018) was a naval officer who served in submarines for 22 years. The book is extensively illustrated with well-chosen black and white photos, and provided with many helpful aids to the reader, such as a list of acronyms, and appendices with technical specifications of many of the missiles and submarines described.

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Our Reviewer: Mike Markowitz is an historian and wargame designer. He writes a monthly column for CoinWeek.Com and is a member of the ADBC (Association of Dedicated Byzantine Collectors). His previous reviews in modern history include To Train the Fleet for War: The U.S. Navy Fleet Problems, 1923-1940, D-Day Encyclopedia: Everything You Want to Know About the Normandy Invasion, Fighting to the End: The Pakistan Army’s Way of War, Loyal Sons: Jews in the German Army in the Great War, Holocaust versus Wehrmacht: How Hitler’s "Final Solution" Undermined the German War Effort, Governments-in-Exile and the Jews During the Second World War,‘ Admiral Gorshkov, Comrades Betrayed: Jewish World War I Veterans under Hitler, Rome – City in Terror: The Nazi Occupation 1943–44, and A Raid on the Red Sea: The Israeli Capture of the Karine A.

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Note: Strike From The Sea is also available in several e-editions.

StrategyPage reviews are published in cooperation with The New York Military Affairs Symposium (https://www.nymas2.org)