(Dan Tri) – The nuclear-powered submarine USS Ohio, with its powerful Tomahawk missile array and impressive combat capabilities, is considered the most powerful weapon the US deploys to demonstrate its power in the Pacific.

US submarine USS Ohio (Photo: US Army)

Built during the Cold War, the USS Ohio – the largest submarine the US has ever put into service – has had its nuclear missiles removed.

In the context of the US President Joe Biden administration’s commitment to allies to protect the open and free Indo-Pacific region, Washington has sent a message with a powerful naval weapons system.

The US sent a guided missile destroyer through the Taiwan Strait.

Last week, the US `boasted` about the appearance of the upgraded 18-ton Ohio guided missile submarine during exercises around the Japanese island of Okinawa.

Expert Sidharth Kaushal from the British Royal United Military Services Institute described the USS Ohio and the submarines USS Michigan, USS Florida and USS Georgia as tools to help bring missiles and soldiers close to US enemy territory.

USS possesses the ability to carry impressive firepower (Photo: US Army)

Although the USS Ohio no longer carries nuclear missiles, it is still a nuclear-powered submarine, allowing it to have `unlimited` range.

This submarine can carry a maximum of 154 Tomahawk `war messenger` cruise missiles, 50% more than guided missile destroyers and nearly 4 times more than the latest attack submarine developed by the US.

Each Tomahawk missile can carry a warhead containing more than 450 kg of explosives.

`154 Tomahawk missiles can deliver punches that no US adversary can ignore,` said Carl Schuster, director of operations at the US Joint Pacific Command Intelligence Center.

Although the US Navy can mobilize destroyers carrying more missiles than the number 154, Ohio-class submarines can fight independently and are difficult to detect when moving silently under the ocean, carrying

The firepower of US nuclear missile submarines was demonstrated in March 2011 when USS Florida fired nearly 100 Tomahawks at targets in Libya during Operation Odyssey Dawn.

USS Ohio operates very `smoothly` under the ocean (Photo: US Army)

When the USS Ohio operates in the Pacific, detecting it will become difficult because it operates in deep waters.

However, even when the USS Ohio gets close to shore, it still has stealth capabilities, allowing it to move more quietly than attack submarines and create a real challenge for anti-submarine forces.

USS Ohio was built in the 1970s and was once considered a symbol of America’s nuclear deterrence when it and 17 other submarines of the same class could carry 24 Trident intercontinental ballistic missiles, each with 8 nuclear warheads.