Bolt internal one of many strongest warships on this planet

Our journey begins in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, the bustling hub of the U.S. Pacific fleet, covering almost half the world, 100 million square miles. 1500 aircraft and around 200 ships, including more than half of the Navy's nuclear powered submarines.

Today, we're getting an exclusive look inside the USS Mississippi, one of the most powerful warships on the planet with a crew of around 140 people. Rear Admiral Jeff Javelin is commander of the Pacific Fleet Submarine Force. Facing new powerful threats in the hotly.

Contested Indo-Pacific. Are you concerned about what China's Navy is doing, particularly in the South China Sea and around Taiwan? I am concerned. You know, in today's world, we are facing two nuclear adversaries.

Where we've never had that before. The Soviet Union and post-Soviet in Russia was our peer adversary. We're now facing China, which has expanded and modernized their nuclear capabilities. The Mississippi is one of 49 fast attack.

Submarines in the U.S. naval fleet. The fleet also has 14 larger submarines carrying nuclear armed ballistic missiles. The U.S., U.K. and Australia's newly announced Orcas partnership will send nuclear powered submarines to Perth,.

Potentially challenging China's ambitions for the region. Beijing now has the world's largest navy, but U.S. submarines have the world's most advanced technology. A key advantage in underwater warfare. Mississippi is ready to die, die, die, die.

This sub is capable of diving deep and fast, descending hundreds of feet in a matter of seconds, 300 feet at angles of up to 25 degrees. Even standing up can be a challenge 400 feet, traveling underwater makes the submarine.

Almost impossible to detect. The nuclear reactor is so quiet, the submarine makes less noise than a whale in the dark depths of the ocean. There's no light to navigate. Construct 099 on this. The team relies on highly sensitive sonar while the ocean.

Environment is very unforgiving. So there are a lot of challenges that prevent a submarine from hearing another submarine or another surface ship. And you've got to be able to understand those different challenges. The USS Mississippi,.

Like all of America's nuclear submarines, can't essentially sustain itself under the water for weeks or even months at a time because of the nuclear reactor that powers them. They breathe recirculated air and purified water. The only thing that they need.

To actually get resupplied with is food for the crew members. And that means that they get used to spending a very long time not only without sunshine and blue skies, but also without regular communication or conversations with their families.

The food on submarines is surprisingly good, but spending months underwater can be tough. No mobile phones allowed outside communication only possible on e-mails. Sailors have to look after each other. What most surprised you about life.

In working on a submarine? Honestly, what surprised me the most was like the people, how close you get with each other. These kind of the shared hardships you share with each other. You end up with a really strong bond. The crew relies on that bond,.

Carrying out complicated, dangerous tasks inside the torpedo room. Trident technicians practice loading high precision weapons capable of taking out other submarines and ships and warning,.

Understanding, warning at the back of the sub. Jack O'Brien works with a team of technical engineers. Do you ever get bored on a sub? No, no, absolutely not. Every day I come in thinking I know what I'm thinking. I know exactly.

What's going to happen, what I got to do. Rear Admiral Javelin says deterrence is the key objective. Even winning a war against an increasingly powerful China would likely result in devastating losses for both sides. I'm confident that should we be called upon to fight.

And hopefully that will never happen, that we would win. Submarines like the USS Mississippi are constantly preparing for war, ready at a moment's notice for whatever the future holds. And the footage, they're well, was incredible. And when you think about it,.

You've got that nuclear submarine watching for threats from China. But China, we now know, is home to the biggest Navy in the world. So from your reporting, having these conversations, what would the reality of a conflict with China actually look like? China does have a big navy,.

But they don't have the number of nuclear submarines, nuclear powered submarines that the United States has, both ballistic missile and also these attack subs that can essentially travel around completely undetected. It is virtually impossible to know where they are.

And they can track other countries, submarines that are louder because a lot of them are diesel and just don't have the same level of sophisticated technology. So then the weapons that they use, they can take out subs, they can take out ships,.

They can take out, you know, targets on the ground. So a lot of war game simulations say that that China could lose up to 70 or 80% of its naval fleet if they tried to make it to invade Taiwan. However,.

It would result in thousands of casualties on both sides. The U.S. would also lose significant assets, including, you know, aircraft carriers. Basically, Erin, there would be no winners in a war over Taiwan. That's the message that the U.S.

Is trying to send. Yeah, awful. All right. Thank you very much. Will Ripley.

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