Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
Tampa Tribune
February 17, 2008 By Eric Talmadge, Associated Press
ABOARD THE USS OHIO - Capt. Andy Hale has just worked out and is still in a sweaty T-shirt and shorts as he stands in the battle command center. He is watching a flat-screen display that shows what's happening outside on the bow and the aft.
His billion-dollar submarine - the U.S. Navy's newest twist on underwater warfare - is hovering just below the surface off the Pacific island of Guam as a submersible disappears into the dark waters, carrying a team of commandos.
The Ohio is the first of a new class of submarine created in a conversion from 1970s vessels by trading nuclear-tipped ICBMs for conventional cruise missiles and a contingent of commandos ready to be launched onto virtually any shore through rejiggered missile tubes - against conventional forces or terrorists.
The sub's cruise across the Pacific comes as China builds its submarine fleet into the region's largest as part of the bulking up of its military. The voyage is the Ohio's first deployment since the makeover, and Hale is in the odd position of showing the ship off.
It's odd because the sub is all about stealth.
Hale can't talk about where the ship is going. The back of the ship, where the nuclear power plant is located, is off limits. The leader of the SEAL commando contingent aboard can't be named, and the commandos themselves can't be photographed in any way that shows their faces.
But, over the next few months, the Ohio will be making a very public statement, training intensively in some of the world's most crowded and contested waters and joining in exercises with America's Asian allies.
Instead of hiding them, the Ohio will be showcasing its abilities to elude detection and operate too deeply and quickly to be tracked.
Then it will likely do what it does best - vanish.
"Submarines are the original stealth platform," Hale told The Associated Press, the only media allowed on board. "Submarine forces have always viewed the Pacific as a very important strategic area... It's certainly grown in importance in the last 10 years."
Just about every country with a coastline in Asia wants or has subs.
China, Japan, Australia, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh and South and North Korea either now have or are planning to acquire them.
Most don't pose much of a threat to the more advanced American fleet. But that is changing.
While Russia continues to be a factor, China now has the biggest submarine fleet in the region, with nearly 60. The United States has upped its presence in the Pacific, and now has more ships - and more subs - in this part of the world than in the Atlantic.
But they are still outnumbered.
"There are many challenges in the Pacific," Hale said. "China is certainly one of them, but it is not the only one."
China's subs are mainly diesel-powered, meaning they must come up for air more frequently than U.S. nuclear-powered vessels, and their crews are not thought to be as well trained as American submariners, who spend several months at a time at sea.
China's fleet is also highly focused on patrolling its own coastal waters and on dealing with potential hostilities over Taiwan, rather than with "projecting force," or trying to control faraway shipping lanes.
But its long-term goals remain opaque.
Two years ago, a Chinese sub shocked the U.S. Navy by surfacing within torpedo range of the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier near the Japanese island of Okinawa. Beijing claimed the sub was in international waters and was not "stalking" the carrier, which was taking part in a naval exercise.
The growing rivalry was underscored in November, when Beijing refused a scheduled port call by the Kitty Hawk's battle group to Hong Kong, forcing thousands of sailors to spend Thanksgiving at sea.
In January, however, China allowed a visit to the port by another U.S. Navy vessel.
Washington has repeatedly expressed concern that China is pouring money into expanding its forces. Beijing increased its military budget by nearly 18 percent to about $45 billion last year, the largest annual hike in more than a decade, and U.S. officials believe actual spending is greater.
The Chinese, meanwhile, are closely watching to see how U.S. concern translates into changes in the U.S. Navy. When the Ohio, which is based in Bangor, Wash., docked at Guam last month, China's official Xinhua news agency called the submarine a "warehouse of explosives" and a "devil of deterrence."
"If the Ohio turns west from Guam, it would need only hours to travel to the coastal waters of many Asian nations," it said. "The U.S. Navy believes the power of the cruise missile-armed nuclear submarine will be tremendous in a future war."
February 17, 2008 By Eric Talmadge, Associated Press
ABOARD THE USS OHIO - Capt. Andy Hale has just worked out and is still in a sweaty T-shirt and shorts as he stands in the battle command center. He is watching a flat-screen display that shows what's happening outside on the bow and the aft.
His billion-dollar submarine - the U.S. Navy's newest twist on underwater warfare - is hovering just below the surface off the Pacific island of Guam as a submersible disappears into the dark waters, carrying a team of commandos.
The Ohio is the first of a new class of submarine created in a conversion from 1970s vessels by trading nuclear-tipped ICBMs for conventional cruise missiles and a contingent of commandos ready to be launched onto virtually any shore through rejiggered missile tubes - against conventional forces or terrorists.
The sub's cruise across the Pacific comes as China builds its submarine fleet into the region's largest as part of the bulking up of its military. The voyage is the Ohio's first deployment since the makeover, and Hale is in the odd position of showing the ship off.
It's odd because the sub is all about stealth.
Hale can't talk about where the ship is going. The back of the ship, where the nuclear power plant is located, is off limits. The leader of the SEAL commando contingent aboard can't be named, and the commandos themselves can't be photographed in any way that shows their faces.
But, over the next few months, the Ohio will be making a very public statement, training intensively in some of the world's most crowded and contested waters and joining in exercises with America's Asian allies.
Instead of hiding them, the Ohio will be showcasing its abilities to elude detection and operate too deeply and quickly to be tracked.
Then it will likely do what it does best - vanish.
"Submarines are the original stealth platform," Hale told The Associated Press, the only media allowed on board. "Submarine forces have always viewed the Pacific as a very important strategic area... It's certainly grown in importance in the last 10 years."
Just about every country with a coastline in Asia wants or has subs.
China, Japan, Australia, India, Malaysia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Singapore, Bangladesh and South and North Korea either now have or are planning to acquire them.
Most don't pose much of a threat to the more advanced American fleet. But that is changing.
While Russia continues to be a factor, China now has the biggest submarine fleet in the region, with nearly 60. The United States has upped its presence in the Pacific, and now has more ships - and more subs - in this part of the world than in the Atlantic.
But they are still outnumbered.
"There are many challenges in the Pacific," Hale said. "China is certainly one of them, but it is not the only one."
China's subs are mainly diesel-powered, meaning they must come up for air more frequently than U.S. nuclear-powered vessels, and their crews are not thought to be as well trained as American submariners, who spend several months at a time at sea.
China's fleet is also highly focused on patrolling its own coastal waters and on dealing with potential hostilities over Taiwan, rather than with "projecting force," or trying to control faraway shipping lanes.
But its long-term goals remain opaque.
Two years ago, a Chinese sub shocked the U.S. Navy by surfacing within torpedo range of the USS Kitty Hawk aircraft carrier near the Japanese island of Okinawa. Beijing claimed the sub was in international waters and was not "stalking" the carrier, which was taking part in a naval exercise.
The growing rivalry was underscored in November, when Beijing refused a scheduled port call by the Kitty Hawk's battle group to Hong Kong, forcing thousands of sailors to spend Thanksgiving at sea.
In January, however, China allowed a visit to the port by another U.S. Navy vessel.
Washington has repeatedly expressed concern that China is pouring money into expanding its forces. Beijing increased its military budget by nearly 18 percent to about $45 billion last year, the largest annual hike in more than a decade, and U.S. officials believe actual spending is greater.
The Chinese, meanwhile, are closely watching to see how U.S. concern translates into changes in the U.S. Navy. When the Ohio, which is based in Bangor, Wash., docked at Guam last month, China's official Xinhua news agency called the submarine a "warehouse of explosives" and a "devil of deterrence."
"If the Ohio turns west from Guam, it would need only hours to travel to the coastal waters of many Asian nations," it said. "The U.S. Navy believes the power of the cruise missile-armed nuclear submarine will be tremendous in a future war."