You’re sitting in a metal tube 400 feet below the ocean's surface. Everything is quiet. Then, the order comes. Within seconds, a 3,000-pound slug of high-tech explosives is shoved out of a vertical tube or a torpedo rack. It doesn't look like much at first. Just a blunt object fighting through the heavy resistance of the seawater. But once it breaks the surface, things get wild. A booster rocket kicks in, the wings flip out, and suddenly, you have a jet engine screaming across the waves at 550 miles per hour.
A tomahawk missile launch from submarine is honestly one of the most complex feats of engineering humans have ever pulled off. It’s not just about the explosion. It’s about the stealth. While an airplane can be spotted on radar hundreds of miles away, a Virginia-class or Ohio-class submarine can park itself off a coastline, remain completely invisible, and deliver a precision strike before anyone even knows they are there.
The Physics of Shoving a Jet Out of a Tube
Most people think of missiles as these sleek, aerodynamic needles. They are, eventually. But when it’s still inside the submarine, the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is basically a big, heavy cylinder tucked inside a protective capsule.
Water is heavy. Really heavy.
When the submarine initiates the launch sequence, it doesn't just "fire" the engine underwater. If you ignited a solid-fuel rocket motor inside a submarine's hull, you’d have a very bad day. Instead, the sub uses gas pressure to eject the missile. It’s basically a massive, high-pressure burp that flings the Tomahawk toward the surface.
Once it clears the water, the "broach" happens. This is the make-or-break moment. The protective cap blows off. The solid-fuel booster—the MK 106—ignites. This isn't the main engine; it’s just the muscle needed to get the bird into the air and up to a speed where its wings can actually generate lift. You see this massive plume of white smoke and a roar that echoes across the empty ocean. It looks like a space shuttle launch in miniature.
The Secret Life of the Williams F107
Once the booster spends its fuel, it falls away into the ocean. Now the real magic happens. A small air intake pops out from the bottom of the missile, and the Williams F107 turbofan engine kicks over. This is a tiny, incredibly efficient jet engine. It’s the same basic tech that powers a private business jet, just shrunk down to fit inside a 20-inch wide pipe.
Because it’s a turbofan, it’s relatively quiet and runs cool. This makes it harder for infrared sensors to pick up. It also allows the Tomahawk to cruise at "subsonic" speeds. It’s not trying to win a drag race. It’s trying to hide. By staying low—sometimes just 50 feet above the ground—it uses the curvature of the earth and the terrain itself to stay off enemy radar.
Why Submarines Are the Preferred Platform
You might wonder why we bother doing this from underwater when we have B-52 bombers and destroyers. It comes down to the "No-First-Look" advantage.
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If a destroyer fires a Tomahawk, the entire world sees the flash on satellite imagery or radar. If a tomahawk missile launch from submarine occurs, the submarine remains submerged. It’s a ghost.
The U.S. Navy relies heavily on the Ohio-class guided-missile submarines (SSGNs). These are old "boomers" that used to carry nuclear ICBMs but were converted to carry Tomahawks. One single SSGN can carry 154 Tomahawks. Think about that for a second. That is a staggering amount of firepower hidden in one single vessel that can disappear for months at a time.
Raytheon, the primary manufacturer of the Tomahawk, has been iterating on this design since the 1970s. We are currently using the Block V. This version is a whole different beast compared to what was used in Desert Storm. Back then, you had to program the coordinates into the missile before it even left the sub. Now? The guys in the control room can talk to the missile while it's in flight. They can tell it to change targets, or just have it circle an area (loitering) until a target of opportunity pops up.
Navigation Without GPS
One of the coolest—and most terrifying—things about the Tomahawk is how it finds its way. Everyone knows about GPS, but GPS can be jammed. If you’re a high-tier military power, the first thing you do in a war is mess with the satellite signals.
The Tomahawk doesn't care. It uses something called TERCOM (Terrain Contour Matching).
The missile has a stored map of the ground it’s supposed to fly over. It uses a radar altimeter to "feel" the ground beneath it. If it expects a 200-foot hill and finds a 300-foot valley, it knows it’s off course and corrects itself. Then, as it gets closer to the target, it switches to DSMAC (Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation). Basically, it uses a camera to look at the ground and compares the pictures to its internal memory.
"Is that the bridge I’m looking for? No, that’s a school. Turn left. There it is."
It’s an incredibly autonomous system. It’s basically a kamikaze drone that’s been around since before the internet was a household thing.
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The Block V and the Moving Target Problem
For a long time, the Tomahawk was a "fixed target" weapon. You used it to blow up buildings, bunkers, or airfields. Moving ships were a problem because, by the time the missile flew 1,000 miles, the ship had moved.
The new Block Va, known as the "Maritime Strike" variant, fixed this. It has a new seeker head that can find and lock onto a moving ship at sea. This turned every U.S. submarine into a ship-killer with a reach that extends way beyond the horizon. It changed the math for naval commanders in the Pacific. You can't just look for other ships anymore; you have to worry about a missile coming from a submarine that’s three states away.
Life Inside the Boat During a Launch
It isn't like the movies. There aren't red lights flashing and people screaming. It’s a quiet, professional, and honestly kinda tedious process until the moment of "Commit."
The Fire Control Technicians (FTs) are the ones doing the heavy lifting. They are staring at screens, verifying the "mission data" which is basically the flight plan for the missile. They have to account for everything: wind, air temperature, enemy air defenses, and the exact position of the sub.
When the trigger is pulled, there is a distinct thump. The boat shudders just a bit. If you’re in the torpedo room or near the Vertical Launch System (VLS) tubes, you’ll hear the hiss of high-pressure air. Then... silence. The sub immediately starts moving to a "clear datum" or a new location. You don't want to hang around the spot where a giant pillar of smoke just erupted from the water. That’s like waving a flare at the enemy.
The Cost of a Single "Push"
War is expensive. A single Tomahawk Block V costs roughly $2 million.
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That sounds like a lot until you realize it can take out a $500 million command center or a $2 billion destroyer. It’s "asymmetric warfare" at its finest. However, the U.S. is currently facing a "magazine depth" problem. We can fire them faster than we can build them. Facilities like the one in Tucson, Arizona, are working overtime, but the supply chain for high-end microchips and specialized rocket fuel is brittle.
This is why you don't see Tomahawks used for every little thing. They are reserved for the "Day One" of a conflict—taking out the "eyes and ears" (radar and communications) of an opponent so that piloted aircraft can move in safely.
Common Misconceptions About Submarine Launches
I hear a lot of people say that Tomahawks are nuclear. Most are not. While there were nuclear versions (the TLAM-N) during the Cold War, they were mostly retired. Today’s Tomahawk is a "conventional" weapon. It carries a 1,000-pound high-explosive warhead.
Another big one is that the submarine has to be near the surface. While they aren't at their maximum depth, modern subs can launch while moving at a decent clip and at a significant depth compared to the old days. They don't need to poke a periscope up and say "cheese" to the enemy.
Actionable Insights for Technology Enthusiasts
If you're following the evolution of naval warfare or just like high-end tech, keep your eyes on these specific areas:
- Look for the VPM: The Navy is building "Virginia Payload Modules" into new submarines. This adds a mid-section to the sub that can carry 28 more Tomahawks. It's a massive upgrade in capacity.
- Hypersonics are next: The Tomahawk is slow (subsonic). The Navy is already testing Conventional Prompt Strike (CPS) missiles that will launch from subs but travel at Mach 5+. These will likely live alongside the Tomahawk, not replace it.
- AI Integration: Watch for news on "collaborative" missiles. The next step is having four or five Tomahawks talk to each other mid-flight to decide which one hits which target for maximum impact.
The tomahawk missile launch from submarine remains the gold standard for power projection. It’s a blend of 1970s grit and 2026 computing power. As long as the U.S. needs to strike targets without being seen, that "thump" under the waves will be the most feared sound in the ocean.
To stay ahead of the curve, monitor the annual Navy budget requests (specifically the "Weapons Procurement, Navy" line items). That is where the real story of the Tomahawk's future is written, showing exactly how many of these "silver bullets" the military thinks it needs for the next decade. Follow the transition from Block IV to Block V closely; it marks the shift from land-attack dominance to a multi-domain maritime threat that hasn't been seen since the height of the Cold War.