The idea of using submarines to launch high-destruction long-range missiles has been around since 1934 and H.G. Wells` book The Shape of Things to Come which talks about `long range air torpedoes.` Since then dozens of these Submarine Launched Balli stic Missiles (SLBMs) have been developed by a variety of nations. Nearly all of them are capable of carrying nuclear warheads and their development had tremendous impact on the Cold War.SLBMs allow a nation to retain nuclear weapon capacity even af ter a first strike by a hostile nation. Such retention of power is a potent deterrent to a hostile nuclear strike and it also allows a nation the freedom not to launch at the slightest provocation. SLBMs are one of several factors that prevented th e Cold War from `going hot` and have influenced politics for decades