NATION : Another Success for Trident 2

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Free of Greenpeace activists, the Navy successfully launched an unarmed Trident 2 missile from a nuclear submarine today, the second such firing this week in an accelerated test program to clear the way for operational deployment in March.

The 126,000-pound, three-stage missile, carrying a load of dummy warheads, was launched from the Tennessee at 9:15 a.m. while the Ohio-class submarine was cruising submerged about 50 miles east of Cape Canaveral.

Propelled to the surface by a powerful charge of compressed gas, the solid-fuel missile was fired toward an undisclosed target in the South Atlantic or Indian oceans.

Including 19 test firings from a ground pad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Trident 2 record now stands at 20 successes and five spectacular failures.