[CasearianDaoist]

What a shocker. They need more not less. I only hope that they are jerking around the appropriations committee.

[LurkedLongEnough]

Not my opinion, but submarines are called the "traditional weapon of a second-rate naval power", according to an article published by Dr. Thomas M. Kane in the Army War College in Carlisle in the periodical Parameters, Winter 2003-04.

Sorry, commenting on such things is a hobby of mine.

[GOP_1900AD]

I wonder if they could be turned into submarine container carriers to expedite material from Shanghai?!

[rmlew]

Is someone on crack over there?
Subs are the most effective anti-Sub units. We need them to protect our surface fleet and to project forces.
North Korea, Iran, and China all have submarines.
Since we only keep 1/3 of our subs deployed at a time, we only have 18 SSN's ready at any time. 4 to 8 are protecting our carriers. An equal number would be needed to protect our MEU's and transports if we were to invade or resupply a beliguered ally (Taiwan?).
Given a two front war, we could run out of subs quickly, even if two-thirds of our fleet were dployed.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Navy ping

[bjcintennessee]

Submarines' value was in their ability to remain hidden. With today's technology, that is no longer something that can be counted on.

A Hawkeye, flying off a US carrier, can detect targets within a 200 square mile radius -- I assumed that includes detecting submarines.

Further, a recent documentary showed a frigate capable of firing torpedos to destroy underwater targets. (Yet another task once isolated to submarines is taken over by water level crafts).

My son recently served on the USS Enterprise and I was privileged to enjoy a three-day "Tiger Cruise" on board his carrier.

When his battle group enters potentially hostile waters, he is as safe as if he were at home in his own bed. (Barring any repeat of the Cole attack).

On a side note -- when his carrier returned to port, we returned to his ship the next day. From the flight deck, we took pictures of a sub that had just docked in the next slip. Upon leaving the dock, I spied a submariner hanging upside down doing repairs on the sub, so I moved closer and started filming. Some guy comes up tells me that I'm not allowed to film or take pictures of the sub. I say "o-k" (I had no problem with this) and he stands and watches while I rewind and erase the film. My son comes over to see what's going on, and tells the guy the sub shouldn't be there in the first place, that 1500 sailors and their families just came back from Iraq and everyone would be taking pictures -- why weren't they in their own slip at the other end of the dock. The sub guy said that repairs were being made at their dock, so they had to come here.

It was an interesting experience.