Free Republic

GROTON– Two Navy Civilian Police Officers were hurt after an unauthorized person tried to enter the Naval Submarine Base New London.

The Polish Armed Forces plan to acquire cruise missiles for the new type of submarines. The missiles are to be capable of striking ground targets at distances up to 800 km, and are treated as an indispensable element of the Polish Armed Forces strategic deterrence system. According to MoD secretary of state Czesław Mroczek, the process for the acquisition of these new submarines is to start later this year, with contractor selection to follow in 2015. Minister Mroczek stressed that, while it is certain that the Polish Armed Forces will acquire cruise missiles for the submarines, some issues nevertheless remain...

At 70 years old, Taiwan’s World War II-era Hai Pao submarine would not be out of place in a museum, but the antique vessel is still part of the navy - a sign of the island’s ongoing struggle to strengthen its fleet. The sub’s interior gleams with highly polished copper and is the pride of its crew. But the fact that the former US warship is still on active duty is testament to Taiwan’s decades-long battle to build up its submarine force, with potential suppliers wary of jeopardising relations with China. China has opposed any arms sales to the island,...

Air Independent Propulsion equipped diesel electric submarines offer incredibly stealthy and long diving capabilities, but they have remained somewhat diminutive in size and limited in capabilities compared to their larger nuclear counterparts. Now, renowned French naval ship builder DCNS is looking to change that with their super-sized SMX-Ocean sub concept. The SMX-Ocean's size is telling — 328 feet long and displacing 4,750 tons while surfaced (more while submerged). That makes her roughly three times the size of the innovative AIP capable Swedish Gotland Class AIP diesel electric subs (diesel electric subs are also known as SSKs) that largely introduced the...

The Navy said it will deploy enlisted female sailors in 2016 aboard submarines with female officers already assigned to them. In July, the Navy announced that enlisted female sailors will begin deploying on submarines in 2016. The enlisted women will be placed on ships with female officers where those naval officers can function as role-models and mentors, Connor said. "We will build upon the ships that have women officers to lead and bring in senior women at the chief petty officer level just like we did with the women supply officers," he explained. There are currently more than 100 female...

Russian Project 885 submarine during sea trials. One of the U.S. Navy’s top submarine officers was so impressed with Russia’s new Project 885 nuclear attack boats that he had a model of K-329 Severodvinsk built for his office. Rear Adm. Dave Johnson, Naval Sea Systems Command’s (NAVSEA) program executive officer (PEO) submarines said he had the model of Severodvinsk placed outside his office in a common area so that he could look at it every day on his way to his office. “We’ll be facing tough potential opponents. One only has to look at the Severodvinsk, Russia’s version of a...

We have been glued all week to the sub saga off the coast of Sweden, where six days in Swedish forces have only now called off their search for an elusive sub hiding in the waters off Stockholm. Yet what nobody has mentioned is just how deadly and capable Sweden's own subs are, and there are few better weapons for catching a sub than another sub. Sweden's submarine force is relatively tiny, just five boats make up the entire inventory, but those five vessels are extremely stealthy and lethal, especially their three Gotland Class diesel-electric submarines. Entering service in the...

One Sunday morning last December, China’s defense ministry summoned military attachés from several embassies to its monolithic Beijing headquarters. To the foreigners’ surprise, the Chinese said that one of their nuclear-powered submarines would soon pass through the Strait of Malacca, a passage between Malaysia and Indonesia that carries much of world trade, say people briefed on the meeting. Two days later, a Chinese attack sub—a so-called hunter-killer, designed to seek out and destroy enemy vessels—slipped through the strait above water and disappeared. It resurfaced near Sri Lanka and then in the Persian Gulf, say people familiar with its movements, before...

Swedish military has called off the search for a 'Russian underwater vessel' thought to have been lurking in the Stockholm archipelago, after admitting that it was 'definitely not' a submarine. Navy top brass has today been forced to concede that although 'underwater activity' is confirmed, the military has ruled out the possibility that it could have been a Russian sub. This comes after Moscow blasted the hunt as 'groundless actions by the Swedish military, based on a Cold War-rhetoric'.

China has installed 17 sets of submerged buoys in "key marine areas" of the western Pacific Ocean, state media said, a move that could exacerbate territorial tensions in the region. The mission carried out by the Chinese research vessel Kexue "marks the first time that China has put an array of submerged buoys on such a big scale", the official Xinhua news agency reported late Tuesday.

UPDATED: Sweden's military has announced that if it finds a suspect foreign vessel in the Stockholm archipelago, it is prepared to force it to the surface "with weapons if necessary". Battleships, minesweepers, helicopters and more than 200 troops are scouring an area about 30 to 60 kilometres from the Swedish capital after a "man-made" and foreign object was spotted in the waters. "The most important value of the operation - regardless of whether we find something -- is to send a very clear signal that Sweden and its armed forces are acting and are ready to act when we think...

JAPAN is preparing to change the sub-surface propulsion system for its Soryu submarines, dumping German and Swedish technology in a move that could clear a potential barrier to Australia purchasing the Japanese boats. Tokyo’s plans to switch from the Kockums propulsion system to specially developed lithium ion batteries eliminates the potential embarrassment for Australia in ­rejecting German and Swedish bids in favour of using a sub that is powered by their intellectual property. The Kockums air-independent propulsion (AIP) system was designed in Sweden but licensed to Kawasaki Heavy Industries to incorporate into the Soryu class to power the subs on...

Taiwan's navy successfully test-fired two anti-ship missiles from a submarine, in the first such exercise since the weapons were acquired from the United States. The Harpoon missiles were launched from Hai Hu (Sea Tiger), a Dutch-built conventional submarine, during a drill last week, the Liberty Times and the United Daily News said, citing unnamed naval sources. The navy started taking delivery of the missiles last year to arm two submarines. The missiles, which have a range of 278 kilometers, would boost the attack capabilities of the two submarines previously only armed with torpedoes with a limited range, naval sources were...

STOCKHOLM – The Swedish military has presented photographic evidence of a mysterious “foreign vessel” off the coast of Stockholm but rejected reports it was on the “hunt” for a damaged submarine. Ever since the armed forces received a tip-off about a “man-made object” off the coast of Stockholm on Friday, 200 men, several stealth ships, minesweepers and helicopters have been searching the sea around islands about 50 kilometers (30 miles) east of the Swedish capital. “This is not ours, it’s a foreign vessel,” Rear Admiral Anders Grenstad told reporters, pointing to a grainy photo taken on Sunday morning by a...

HELSINKI – A Swedish military search for evidence of suspected undersea activity in its waters has entered its third day amid reports of a suspected Russian intrusion. The military has declined to comment on the operation except to say it is searching for evidence of "foreign underwater activity." Daily Svenska Dagbladet reported the Swedes had picked up an emergency message suggesting a Russian mini-submarine had run into trouble in Swedish waters.

A two-man Greenpeace submarine has been attacked by squids on an expedition in the Bering Sea -- and all the gory details were captured in a Vine.

Russia is currently in the process of expanding and modernizing its navy. This might have something to do with Moscow’s apparent appetite for military conquest — although Russia also has a few nuclear submarines that are dangerously past their prime, considering the fissile materials that are still stored onboard. In 2009, one rusted behemoth was transported to a factory in the far eastern port city of Vladivostok, close to the Korean peninsula, for decommissioning. With the vessel fully out of water, the pictures offer an amazing perspective on how massive and complex even an outdated class of nuclear submarine really...

A HIGH-POWERED German submarine delegation is in Canberra to demand an open competition for the nation’s biggest ever defence contract — a new navy submarine. German giant ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS), the parent company of leading submarine builder HDW, has launched an aggressive bid to head off Japan for the multi-billion dollar job. And in good news for thousands of shipyard workers at the ASC yard in Port Adelaide and elsewhere around the nation, TKMS said it would be happy to build the boats in Australia. The company has built more than 160 diesel powered submarines and it has promised...

A Chinese military website, ostensibly sponsored by the People’s Liberation Army, quoting Sri Lanka media has reported that a Chinese Type 039 diesel-electric Song-class submarine along with Changxing Dao, a submarine support ship from the North Sea Fleet was sighted berthed alongside at the Colombo International Container Terminal. Although the pictures of the submarine and the support vessel together in the port have not been published either by the Sri Lankan or the Chinese media, it is believed that the submarine arrived in early September just before the Chinese President Xi Jingping’s visit to Sri Lanka. The report also states...

Naval warfare experts agree the Indian Navy is capable of obtaining "sea control" - or domination of waters and airspace - in the Arabian Sea in a war with Pakistan. Equally, India can dominate China's sea lines of communications (SLOCs) through the Indian Ocean, cutting off trade, oil and commodities. This ability stems from India's aircraft carriers and the proximity to naval and air bases on Indian territory (Indian navy: Strong on aircraft carriers, short of submarines). Yet a bleaker picture emerges of the navy's ability for "sea denial" - bottling up enemy shipping in a particular area; or blocking...