Benjamin Franklin-class Nuclear Ballistic Missile Submarine

The Benjamin Franklin-class submarine was a group of US ballistic missile submarines that were in Navy service from the 1960s–2000s. The class was an evolutionary development from the earlier James Madison-class of fleet ballistic missile submarine. Having quieter machinery and other improvements, it is considered a separate class. A subset of this class is the re-engineered 640-class starting with USS George C. Marshall (SSBN-654) The primary difference was that they were built under the new SUBSAFE rules after the loss of the USS Thresher, earlier boats of the class had to be retrofitted to meet SUBSAFE requirements. The Benjamin Franklin-class, together with the George Washington, Ethan Allen, Lafayette, and James Madison classes, composed the "41 for Freedom" that was the Navy's primary contribution to the nuclear deterrent force through the late 1980s. This class and the James Madison-class are combined with the Lafayettes in some references.

Benjamin Franklin-subclass

 * USS Benjamin Franklin (SSBN-640)
 * USS Simon Bolivar (SSBN-641)
 * USS Kamehameha (SSBN-642)
 * USS George Bancroft (SSBN-643)
 * USS Lewis and Clark (SSBN-644)
 * USS James K. Polk (SSBN-645)

George C. Marshall-subclass

 * USS George C. Marshall (SSBN-654)
 * USS Henry L. Stimson (SSBN-655)
 * USS George Washington Carver (SSBN-656)
 * USS Francis Scott Key (SSBN-657)
 * USS Mariano G. Vallejo (SSBN-658)
 * USS Will Rogers (SSBN-659)