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How big is an Ohio-class submarine?

Ohio-class submarine · US Navy ballistic missile submarine (SSBN)

Length
171 m 560 ft
Beam (width)
12.8 m 42 ft
Displacement (surfaced)
17,033.03 t 18,775.7 US tons
Displacement (submerged)
19,000.1 t 20,944 US tons
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Human, Leaning Tower of Pisa, Boeing 747, Ohio-class submarine drawn to the same scaleHuman: height 1.61–1.75 m. Leaning Tower of Pisa: height 58.36 m. Boeing 747: length 70.67–76.25 m. Ohio-class submarine: length 171 m.Human: 1.61–1.75 mLeaning Tower of Pisa: 58.36 mBoeing 747: 70.67–76.25 mOhio-class submarine: 171 mLeaning Tower of Pisa58.36 mOhio-class submarine171 mBoeing 74770.67–76.25 mHuman1.61–1.75 m
Everything is drawn to the same scale, standing on the same ground line. Silhouettes are simplified outlines scaled to the measured dimension. A faded outline shows the top of a size range.

Compare Ohio-class submarine with something else →

Zoom out from an average adult to an Ohio-class submarine

An Ohio-class submarine is too big to show next to an average adult in one picture, so here it is in 2 steps. Each step is drawn to its own scale and zooms out from the step before.

  1. Step 1 of 2 Human → Megalodon

    A megalodon is about 8.6–15 times as long as an average adult is tall.

    Human, Megalodon drawn to the same scaleHuman: height 1.61–1.75 m. Megalodon: maximum length (estimates) 15–24.3 m.Human: 1.61–1.75 mMegalodon: 15–24.3 mMegalodon15–24.3 mHuman1.61–1.75 m
    Step 1: Human and Megalodon at the same scale.

  2. Step 2 of 2 Megalodon → Ohio-class submarine

    An Ohio-class submarine is about 7–11 times as long as a megalodon.

    Megalodon, Ohio-class submarine drawn to the same scaleMegalodon: maximum length (estimates) 15–24.3 m. Ohio-class submarine: length 171 m.Megalodon: 15–24.3 mOhio-class submarine: 171 mOhio-class submarine171 mMegalodon15–24.3 m
    Step 2: Megalodon and Ohio-class submarine at the same scale.

Dimensions

MeasurementMetricImperialNotesSource
Length 171 m 560 ft Overall length in the Navy fact file (170.69 m) [1]
Beam (width) 12.8 m 42 ft Hull width (12.8 m) [1]
Displacement (surfaced) 17,033.03 t 18,775.7 US tons Surfaced displacement, the mass of water the hull displaces: 16,764 tons (long tons) or 17,033.03 metric tons [1]
Displacement (submerged) 19,000.1 t 20,944 US tons Submerged displacement, including water taken on to dive: 18,750 tons (long tons) or 19,000.1 metric tons [1]

About the Ohio-class submarine

The Ohio class is the US Navy's fleet of nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines, often called 'boomers', built by General Dynamics Electric Boat. The Navy lists each boat at 560 ft (170.69 m) long with a 42 ft beam, displacing 18,750 tons when submerged. The Navy lists 14 boats, each now carrying up to 20 Trident II D5 missiles, and the Columbia class is planned to replace them.

  • There are 14 Ohio-class ballistic missile submarines, based at Bangor, Washington, and Kings Bay, Georgia. [1]
  • Each boat originally carried up to 24 missiles; under the New START treaty four tubes on each were permanently deactivated, leaving a maximum of 20. [1]
  • Each submarine has two crews, Blue and Gold, that take turns on patrol. On average a boat spends 77 days at sea, then 35 days in port for maintenance. [1]
  • The crew is 15 officers and 144 enlisted sailors, and the top speed is given as 20+ knots. [1]
  • The replacement Columbia class is also 560 ft long, with a 43 ft beam and a displacement of 20,800 long tons. [1]

How many fit?

  • ≈ 100 × Human · height lined up end to end match the Ohio-class submarine · length
  • ≈ 200,000 × Human · body mass on the scales weigh as much as Ohio-class submarine · displacement (surfaced)
  • ≈ 1.8 × Statue of Liberty · ground to tip of torch lined up end to end match the Ohio-class submarine · length
  • ≈ 210 × Statue of Liberty · weight of copper skin on the scales weigh as much as Ohio-class submarine · displacement (surfaced)

Counts divide one sourced figure by another. "End to end" uses each object's main measurement; weight and volume rows appear only when both figures are sourced.

How it compares

  • 100× An Ohio-class submarine is about 100 times as long as an average adult is tall. See side by side
  • 1.8× An Ohio-class submarine is about 1.8 times as long as the Statue of Liberty is tall. See side by side
  • 1.4× An Ohio-class submarine is about 1.4 times as long as SpaceX's Starship is tall. See side by side
  • 1/1.1 An Ohio-class submarine is about as long as the Gateway Arch is tall. See side by side
  • 1/1.6 The Titanic is about 1.6 times as long as an Ohio-class submarine. See side by side
  • 1/2.1 A giant cruise ship is about 2.1 times as long as an Ohio-class submarine. See side by side

Factors compare the length of an Ohio-class submarine with each object’s own main measurement (height for a human). Where a size varies, the factor is given as a range.

Notes on these figures

  • navy.mil returns HTTP 403 to plain fetches, so the fact file was read in headless Chrome.
  • Displacement is the mass of water pushed aside by the hull, which equals the submarine's mass when floating. The Navy's 'tons' are long tons; the metric figures are stored.
  • The four Ohio-class boats converted to guided-missile submarines (SSGN) are not covered by this fact file.
  • No height (hull depth or sail height) was found in the Navy source, so only the length axis is drawn.

Sources

  1. U.S. Navy, Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarines - SSBN (fact file, last updated 27 Feb 2025). Accessed 25 September 2026.

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