Pacific Submarine Force: A New Era of Warfare

Navy News Stand ^ | Jan. 23, 2004 | Chief Journalist (SW/AW) David Rush, Commander, Submarine Force, U.S. Pacific Fleet Public Affairs

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Ping.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (NNS) -- In a January interview, Rear Adm. Paul F Sullivan, commander, Submarine Force Pacific, U.S. Pacific Fleet (COMSUBPAC), said his submariners are ready for 2004.

The attack submarines (SSNs) stationed in Pearl Harbor, San Diego and Guam, as well as the "boomers" (SSBNs) homeported in Bangor, Wash., are ready to play their part in the globar war on terrorism.

Like the rest of the U.S. military, the events of Sept. 11 have had a major impact in the way the U.S. Navy operates.

The impact of the global war on terrorism has changed everything, including submarine warfare.

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Peace through readiness, ping! 

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[RightWhale]

So, attack subs are now operating right up to shorelines and in shallow water. Water needs to be 100 feet deep or the sail will stick out while the belly is scraping bottom.

[Severa]

They're starting to realize that with the Cold War being over, it's not the Russkies we worry about anymore (at least to a degree anyway) it's the countries they've sold their boats to that we need to keep an eye on...

[blackie]

Peace through readiness ~ Bump!

[Bobby777]

Love the USA's submarines ... always thought it would be cool to serve on them, especially these newer boats ...

[pabianice]

http://www.navlog.org

[Starboard]

As the threat of potential competitor nations diesel submarines...

Running on batteries, diesel boats can be very quiet and therefore difficult to detect.

[LibWhacker]

“The day of submarines operating on their own, similar to what I grew up with during the Cold War, is well in the past. Our future depends on the ability to operate in a joint environment," Sullivan said.

Hmmm . . . Don't know beans about the Navy, but I'm not sure I like this. Wasn't the idea behind submarine autonomy to make our subs hard to find? And now we're thinking of giving that up? In order to chase a bunch of raggedty-a** terrorists around? Don't like it at all. Russia and China are still out there and are still a serious threat, imo.

[BykrBayb]

Wasn't the idea behind submarine autonomy to make our subs hard to find?

My son is on the USS Charlotte (SSN 766), stationed in Pearl Harbor. He tells me that they remain very well hidden, even when assisting other vessels. They even hide from our own vessels. He tells me when he deploys, when he expects to return, and when he actually returns. That's all he can tell me. Although he's in navigation, he always tells me he doesn't know where he's going or where he's been. LOL

[CasearianDaoist]

They are working on a "stealth sail" for the Virginia class. It is shorter (do not know how much) it looks like bump on the top of the hull, has no "wings" and the "periscope" is "photonic" in that it does not pierce the hull and does not use direct optics. (I guess all the the virginias are like that.) I think that they are going to have two types of sails for this new class, a smaller version of the Seawolf sail and this new type of sail.

I, like you seem to think, wonder if they do not need some sort of smaller litorial type of boat. The Navy wants to use sub and helo launched unmanned vehicles to counter this threat. It is worth noting that they do do a lot of ASW war gaming with all of these new classes of subs that are appearing in the navies of regional powers, and with real navies, not simulations. Maybe they know what they are talking about, who knows?

[shaggy eel]

And now we're thinking of giving that up?

,,, don't believe everything you read.

[Az Joe]

Submariners are Gods.

[Calvin Locke]

...to make our subs hard to find?

I read some book that had a quote from a Soviet Admiral about keeping track of their own subs: "We just track the P3s..."

[jungleboy]

Attack subs are 100' sail to keel? wow!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

“That’s where you see the advancements with the modernizations from commercial off-the-shelf technology [COTS]. The equipment costs about one tenth what the legacy systems cost, and gives you much more powerful computers that you can update every three to four years,” said Sullivan.

I recommend the AMD64 processor.
Runs great!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Interesting!

Maybe have a big ship that carries around several of these little guys!

[FreedomPoster]

>>Running on batteries, diesel boats can be very quiet

The joke there is, to get an idea of how much noise a diesel-electric boat makes when running on batteries, go out to your garage, open your hood, and listen to your car battery.

Of course, I don't think it would be much of a joke if you were out there in brown water.

[CasearianDaoist]

You mean the underwater unmanned vehicles? I think that the Littoral Combat Ship and some versions of the planned DDC and CGX may have such a thing. Another interesting idea is to have some supersonic planes deliver them based on long range sonar scans. They are terrible mum about the robots so it is hard to day what they are up to.

I wonder if the submarine force is getting enough money.