UUM-44 SUBROC

The UUM-44 SUBROC, short for Submarine Rocket, was a submarine-launched anti-submarine weapon deployed by the United States Navy. Fired from a standard 21-inch torpedo tube, its solid-fuel rocket motor carried it to the surface, where it flew a pre-set ballistic path before the reentry vehicle separated and a low-yield W55 nuclear depth bomb sank to detonate near its target, so a direct hit was not needed. It was meant for time-urgent attacks on submarines that could not be engaged by any other weapon without revealing the launching boat's position. Development began in 1958 after a 1956 summer study, Project Nobska, recommended it, and it reached initial operating capability aboard the attack submarine Permit in 1964. Production ended in 1968, it was never used in combat, and its 285 W55 warheads were decommissioned in 1990. Goodyear Aerospace lists it among its missile products.