Regulus missile

SSM-N-8 Regulus
SSM-N-8 "Regulus I" display at Bowfin Park, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
Type	Cruise missile
Place of origin	United States
Service history
In service	1955-64
Used by	United States Navy
Production history
Manufacturer	Chance Vought
Produced	March 1951
Specifications
Weight	13,685 pounds (6,207 kg)
Length	32 feet 2 inches (9.80 m)
Diameter	4 feet 8.5 inches (1.435 m)
Warhead	3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) such as the W5 warhead or the W27 warhead
Engine	Allison J33-A-14 turbojet 4,600 lbf (20 kN) 2 × booster rockets 33,000 lbf (150 kN)
Wingspan	21 feet (6.4 m) extended 9 feet 10.5 inches (3.010 m) folded
Operational range	500 nautical miles (926 km)
Speed	Subsonic

The SSM-N-8A Regulus or the Regulus I was a U.S. Navy developed ship-and-submarine-launched, nuclear-armed turbojet-powered second generation cruise missile, deployed from 1955 to 1964, and loosely based on the German V-1 missile. Its barrel-shaped fuselage resembled that of numerous fighter aircraft designs of the era, but without a cockpit. When the missiles was readied for launch, to give them Rocket Assisted Take Off they were fitted with two large booster rockets on the aft end of the fuselage.

In October 1943, Chance Vought Aircraft Company signed a study contract for a 300-mile (480 km) range missile to carry a 4,000-pound (1,800 kg) warhead. The project stalled for four years, however, until May 1947, when the United States Army Air Forces awarded Martin Aircraft Company a contract for a turbojet powered subsonic missile, the Matador. The Navy saw Matador as a threat to its role in guided missiles and, within days, started a Navy development program for a missile that could be launched from a submarine and use the same J33 engine as the Matador. In August 1947, the specifications for the project, now named "Regulus," were issued: Carry a 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) warhead, to a range of 500 nautical miles (930 km), at Mach 0.85, with a circular error probable (CEP) of 0.5% of the range. At its extreme range the missile had to hit within 2.5 nautical miles (4.6 km) of its target 50% of the time.

Regulus development was preceded by Navy experiments with the JB-2 Loon missile, a close derivative of the German V-1 flying bomb, beginning in the last year of World War II. Submarine testing was performed from 1947 to 1953, with USS Cusk (SS-348) and USS Carbonero (SS-337) converted as test platforms, initially carrying the missile unprotected, thus unable to submerge until after launch.