Tag Archives: SSN
HMS Conqueror returning to Faslane, 4 July 1982
Royal Navy fleet submarine HMS Conqueror (S48) returning to Faslane, 4 July 1982, flying the traditional ‘Jolly Roger’ to decorated with the silhouette of a cruiser to signify her successful attack on the Argentine cruiser ARA General Belgrano during the Falklands War.
silhouette
USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN 705) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for Western Pacific deployment
131104-N-DB801-195 PEARL HARBOR, Hawaii (Nov. 4, 2013) The Los Angeles-class submarine USS City of Corpus Christi (SSN 705) departs Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam for a deployment to the Western Pacific. City of Corpus Christi is the second ship to be named after the Texas city and is capable of conducting anti-surface and anti-submarine operations along with guided missile strike operations using conventional Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles. (U.S Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Steven Khor/Released)
USS North Dakota (SSN 784) christening ceremony, 2 Nov 2013
131102-N-SF554-009 GROTON, Conn (Nov. 2, 2013) Pre-Commissioning Unit North Dakota (SSN 784) sits moored at the graving dock of General Dynamics Electric Boat prior to its christening ceremony in Groton, Conn., Nov. 2. North Dakota is the 11th Virginia-class attack submarine and is scheduled to be commissioned in early 2014. (U.S. Navy Photo by Lt. j.g. Phillip Chitty/Released)
USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) at Gibraltar, 2012
US Navy Virginia-class submarine USS New Hampshire (SSN 778) at Gibraltar, 2012. (© Moshi Anahory via flickr)
India to lease 2nd nuclear submarine from Russia
Under the deal, India would provide funds to restart construction on the Akula I attack boat Iribis that was laid down at the Amur shipyard in 1994 and had its construction halted in 1996 at 42% completion due to lack of funds. (The “mighty Soviet navy” being neither mighty, nor Soviet, nor barely a navy in those days.)
India may finalize deal to lease second nuclear submarine from Russia during PM’s visit
NEW DELHI: Faced with a depleting fleet of submarines, India is expected to acquire on lease a nuclear submarine from Russia, a deal for which may be finalized during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit there starting on Sunday.
The move to acquire the second nuclear submarine from Russia comes two months after the Navy’s frontline Russian-origin Kilo Class INS Sindhurakshak submarine sank at the Mumbai harbour after an explosion suspected to have occurred in its torpedo section.
A proposal in this regard was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister in its recent meeting. The deal is expected to cost India more than Rs 6,000 crore, highly-placed government sources told PTI.
The Indian Navy is already operating one Akula II Class nuclear submarine — Nerpa. The over 8,000-tonne warship was inducted in April last year at the Visakhapatnam-based Eastern Naval Command and renamed ‘INS Chakra’.
Under the project, India is planning to finance the construction of an old Akula Class submarine ‘Irbis’ in Russia, which could not be completed during the 1990s due to the lack of funds after the break up of the erstwhile USSR.
The two countries have been holding negotiations in this regard for quite some time and they were concluded recently. The construction of the submarine is expected to take at least three to four years.
India’s submarine fleet, which is getting old, suffered a huge blow after the sinking of the INS Sindhurakshak at the Mumbai harbour, killing all the 18 people on-board.
US Navy and Royal Navy complete anti-submarine exercise in Mediterranean
Vessels involved in the multinational exercise included the US Navy’s Arleigh Burke-class destroyers USS Stout (DDG 55), USS Barry (DDG 52), USS Gravely (DDG 107), the Royal Navy Type 45 destroyer HMS Dragon (D35) and Traflalgar-class submarine HMS Talent (S92).
USS Stout Works with Royal Navy to Improve Anti-Submarine Warfare
Release Date: 10/18/2013 1700 Story 647
By Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray, USS Stout (DDG 55) Public AffairsMEDITERRANEAN SEA- The Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) completed a Coordinated Anti-Submarine Warfare exercise (CASEX) with the Royal Navy, Oct. 15-16.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Oct. 16, 2013) – Cmdr. Andrew Fitzpatrick, executive officer of the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55), uses binoculars to keep watch during a coordinated anti-submarine warfare exercise with the USS Gravely (USS 107) and the British Royal Navy air-defense destroyer HMS Dragon (D35). (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray/Released)
The exercise also included USS Barry (DDG 52), USS Gravely (DDG 107), the Trafalager Class Nuclear Submarine HMS Talent (592), the Royal Navy airdefense destroyer HMS Dragon (D35), and aircraft support from both countries.
“This particular exercise was called a blocking evolution,” said combat information center officer Lt. j.g. Luqman Haskett. “We did not know where the submarine was, but we knew where they wanted to go. So the goal was to try and track them and prevent them from reaching their desired location.”
The surface ships and aircraft utilized simulated weapons and tactics to locate and execute the target. The exercise took place over a span of 12 hours. Each ship and aircraft was responsible for monitoring a specific area to maintain contact with the submarine.
We were able to sharpen our skills so that we are prepared if a real scenario arises,” said Sonar Technician (Surface) 3rd Class Emily Sandomierski. “Some of us are just out of school, and this gave us a real life experience and helped show us the importance of what we do.”
The exercise, designed to assist ships in tracking and eliminating enemy submarine contacts and to assist the submarine in remaining undetected, increases knowledge and proficiency for anti-submarine warfare.
“The exercise went really well. It was a great opportunity to work with NATO forces and combine aircraft and surface ships to combine tracking on a live submarine, which we don’t get to do very often,” said operations officer, Lt. Jeffrey Applebaugh. “It was a good exercise and educational for our Sailers. Stout did well, and we had the most contact time out of everyone by a significant margin.”
Stout, Barry, and Gravely, all homeported in Norfolk, Va., are on a scheduled deployment supporting maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 6th Fleet area of operation.
MEDITERRANEAN SEA (Oct. 16, 2013) – The British Royal Navy Trafalager Class Nuclear Submarine HMS Talent (S92) participates in a coordinated anti-submarine warfare exercise. The exercise also involved U.S. Navy Arleigh Burke-class Guided-missile destroyers, USS Stout (DDG 55), USS Barry (DDG 52), USS Gravely (DDG 107) pulls along side the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Stout (DDG 55) for a photo exercise. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Amanda R. Gray/Released)
HMS Ambush berths alongside new Valiant Jetty at Faslane
Six berths. Speaks volumes to how few submarines the RN will have. {sigh} Oh well. Like Johnny Mercer sang, you’ve got the ac-cent-tchu-ate the positive. So let’s concentrate on what a nifty piece of engineering the floating jetty is. And it is. So nifty, in fact, that the idea could be a nice little export earner.
Faslane nuclear submarine jetty trial ‘a success’
HMS Astute at sea and HMS Ambush berthing alongside Valiant Jetty for the first time.
The Royal Navy has successfully trialled a new state-of-the-art floating jetty at its submarine base on the Clyde.
The Valiant Jetty is designed to move with the tide and will be used to berth nuclear subs at Faslane. A Trafalgar-class sub was berthed on Saturday, followed on Monday by one of the Navy’s new Astute-class subs.
The 200m-long jetty is vital to operations at HM Naval Base Clyde, according to the Navy.
Commander Nick King said: “The Valiant Jetty is world class: the most modern facility for berthing nuclear submarines in the world.
“Previous submarine berths were static whereas the Valiant Jetty moves with the tide. This provides a huge advantage to the submarines alongside as there is no longer the regular need to adjust lines and cables with tidal movement. Both vessel and jetty move together which means a much neater, efficient and safer layout.
“The Valiant Jetty is already attracting the attention of navies around the world who are looking to utilise the technology for berthing their own submarines.”
The 44,000-tonne jetty has six berths and is designed to serve the Navy for the next 50 years.
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/news/scotland/faslane-nuclear-submarine-jetty-trial-a-success-1.142556
US Navy names first 2 attack submarines to have female crew
He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery.
Navy Names First Two Attack Boats to Have Female Crew
Lt. Thomas Belchik trains Midshipman 1st Class Elizabeth Byers in 2009. US Navy Photo.
Submarines USS Virginia (SSN-774) and USS Minnesota (SSN-783) will be the first nuclear attack boats (SSNs) to field female crewmembers, the U.S. Navy said in a Tuesday statement.
A total of six female sailors — four nuclear trained officers and two supply officers — will report to Naval Submarine Base New London in Groton, Conn. no latter than January 2015, according to the statement.
“My plan is to begin by integrating four Virginia-class attack submarines, with the second set of two units being integrated in Fiscal Year (FY) 2016,” Vice Adm. Michael Connor, commander, Submarine Forces, said in the statement.
“I intend to select two Pacific Fleet submarines, homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii early next year.”
Each ship will receive two nuclear qualified officers and a supply officer — to serve as a mentor— as a first step of integrating the attack boats.
USS Virginia (SSN-774) in 2010.
“The female officers will be assigned to the Virginia-class submarines for duty after completing the nuclear submarine training pipeline, which consists of nuclear power school, prototype training and the Submarine Officer Basic Course,” according to the service.
Since the Navy got rid of the prohibition of women on submarines, the Navy has integrated seven Ohio-class nuclear guided missile (SSGN) and nuclear ballistic missile submarines (SSBN):
USS Florida (SSGN-728); USS Georgia (SSGN-729); USS Wyoming (SSBN-742); USS Ohio (SSGN-726); USS Louisiana (SSBN-743); USS Maine (SSBN-741),
The Navy began with the larger Ohios since there was more room and flexibility to provide the material accommodation to allow women to serve on submarines. Virginias have more room than the older Los Angeles-class (SSN-688) attack boats to provide berthing to female sailors.
“Female officers serving aboard Virginia-class submarines is the next natural step to more fully integrate women into the submarine force,” Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus said in a statement.
The Navy has not released a timeline on which platforms or when female enlisted will enter the submarine service.
Since the service rescinded the no-women-on-subs policy in 2010, it has brought 43 women aboard submarines.
news.usni.org/2013/10/15/navy-names-first-two-attack-boats-female-crew
{groan!} “Here Are All The Things the British Military Can’t Do Anymore “
On face value it would be tempting to dismiss this article as a hatchet job by a Texan blogger. I’m sure that many American readers of Foreign Policy are going to reblog it with glee. (Because, you know, ‘Murica showed up in two world wars and saved Yurop’s ass, right?) But I genuinely don’t think that was Beckhusen’s intent. He’s merely cataloging facts that any observer of British naval policy already knows. He’s cataloging those facts for an audience (Americans) that might not be paying that much attention. They’ve got their own budget battles, procurement snafus, ship decommissionings and operational overreach to worry about. So if, charitably, 1% of the article’s American readership actually pays attention to what Beckhusen is trying to point out, then that’s a bloody good thing. The other 99% can repeat the hackneyed trope of “savin’ Yurop’s ass” and we needn’t worry about them. So… here’s the article:
Here Are All The Things the British Military Can’t Do Anymore
In late September, the Royal Navy unveiled its latest nuclear-powered Astute-class submarine, HMS Artful, and also “christened” the hefty but sleek Daring-class destroyer HMS Duncan — the sixth and last of its class. Aside from the United Kingdom’s aircraft carrier program, these represent the two most significant naval shipbuilding programs happening in Britain at the moment. And two of the most controversial.
The vessels are impressive on the surface, but each ship originates from troubled development programs which — although coming with creature comforts and advanced technology — turned out to be less than impressive when put to the test.
New submarines running aground, older subs breaking down and destroyers put into service without adequate defenses against enemy submarines. It’s not completely surprising. The Ministry of Defence’s budget is half that of 30 years ago.
Perhaps more troubling for the Royal Navy: the vessels tasked with carrying Britain’s military into the 21st century have sacrificed key systems needed to defend against attacks, while suffering limitations in their ability to strike back at enemy planes and missiles.
Meanwhile, Royal Air Force ocean patrol planes that once buzzed the ocean scooping every signal they could detect have been cut altogether, meaning the surface ships are sailing blind — and Britain’s nuclear-missile force is sailing without escorts.
Here’s what Britain’s military can’t do. Or if it does do it, it doesn’t do it well.
HMS Duncan departs for sea trials on Aug. 31, 2012. Mark Harkin/Wikimedia Commons photo
Absent frigates and troubled destroyers
This is the Daring-class destroyer. It is one of the most embarrassing military programs in the British armed forces.
It wasn’t meant to be this way. Intended to replace the Type 42 destroyer which first entered service in the 1970s, the Daring class was envisioned as an 8,000-ton, 152-meter-long vessel with anti-air and anti-submarine capabilities par excellence. The centerpiece: an anti-aircraft system called Sea Viper with a Sampson dual-band radar capable of tracking 1,000 objects the size of a tennis ball as far away as 400 kilometers.
The system also has two different types of anti-aircraft missiles: the Aster 15 medium-range missile and its long-range cousin, the Aster 30, which can travel up to an impressive 75 miles. There’s also a 4.5-inch main gun for surface targets.
The Royal Navy is acutely aware of its need for robust destroyers with advanced anti-aircraft systems, principally owing to the Falklands War. Two Type 42 destroyers, the HMS Sheffield and Coventry, were sunk during the war by low-flying Argentinian aircraft. The Sea Viper system is also a big improvement over the Type 42’s radar.
But the Royal Navy built a ship with major weaknesses where it should be strong. For one, Sea Viper’s planned inter-ship communication system was to be added later, meaning one destroyer can’t share information via a satellite network with other ships. The complexity of all the new electronic systems and shoddy oversight also led to repeated delays and ballooning costs.
And there’s a problem with the missiles. The Aster 15s are fine for a lone incoming anti-ship missile — the Aster 15 is highly maneuverable and functions as a both short- and medium-range defense weapon. But the missiles take up a lot of space and can’t be “quad-packed” into a missile tube.
This reduces the number of available Aster 15s to a mere 20 missiles compared to the 96 missiles carried by the U.S. Arleigh Burke-class destroyers. The number is even fewer than the advanced (but much smaller) Sachsen-class frigates of the German navy, which carry 32 missiles — and that was already on the low-end. In the event of an enemy saturation attack — like a blitz but with anti-ship missiles instead of linebackers — the air-defense-focused Daring class could be in serious trouble.
Radar-guided Phalanx guns, which throw up a wall of 20-millimeter rounds as a last resort against incoming missiles, were not installed on the lead ship of the class until this year. Oh, and unlike the Type 42, the destroyer has no torpedo tubes to defend against attacking submarines. This job is left for the destroyer’s helicopters and — either a single Merlin or a pair of Lynx choppers — and a torpedo decoy system. The ship has no missiles for attacking land targets.
The Royal Navy has also built fewer Darings than it ever did for the now-retired Type 42. Cost-cutting measures forced a trim to the number of planned destroyers from 12 to eight ships, and then to a final number of only six ships. (The Royal Navy built 14 Type 42s.) So the Daring class is an anti-aircraft ship that’s fewer in number than its predecessor, with several major anti-air weaknesses and the ship has a major weakness against submarines.
The total price for the ships is now $10.35 billion?-?$2.4 billion more than anticipated — and was enough for one U.S. Naval War College report to describe the Daring class as “a symbol in the United Kingdom for mismanagement of procurement.”
That’s not all. The Royal Navy has retired the anti-submarine Type 22 frigate and doesn’t have the money to replace it. Also first dating to the 1970s, none of the 14 Type 22s are still in service — the last four of the line were sold for scrap in 2011. Thirteen Type 23 frigates are still in service, though.
But the Type 22 was Britain’s primary anti-submarine warfare ship. The Type 22 also doubled as the Royal Navy’s ship-based signals intelligence force. The ships contained the “only combination of systems enabling wide ranging monitoring of the frequencies and wavelengths of the Electromagnetic Spectrum of the sea,” Parliament’s Defense Committee noted in 2012. Now that’s gone.
Nimrod MRA4. BAE Systems/Wikimedia Commons photo
Maritime reconnaissance planes turned to scrap
Let this sink in for a second. The United Kingdom has no dedicated maritime patrol planes.
That’s a pretty big deal. Patrol planes are more or less a requirement for a navy worth its sea-faring salt, and many coastal countries without sizable navies have at least some planes for ocean patrol missions. Even Denmark and Peru have maritime patrol planes.
They’re the eyes and ears of a fleet, and use a combination of radar, sonar buoys and other sensors to detect enemy ships or conduct search and rescue missions. The U.K. has also long used maritime surveillance aircraft to track Russian submarines navigating north of Scotland, peeking on naval maneuvers in the Arctic Sea and escorting the Royal Navy’s own ballistic missile subs.
For much of the Cold War, the Royal Air Force tasked this mission to the Nimrod MR1 and MR2 planes, which first entered service in 1969. An advanced aircraft for its time, the older Nimrods were eventually retired in 2011 to be replaced by the modern Nimrod MRA4.
The new Nimrod was supposed to be a major upgrade, and entailed rebuilding the plane from the inside out. There was going to be new engines and larger wings. New sensor systems would let the MRA4 see from longer distances, and the design enabled it to travel up to 2,500 miles further than its predecessor.
Upgrading the Nimrods proved to be an impossible task for an absurd reason. The planes are based on the de Havilland Comet, a 1950s-era commercial airliner which had been transformed over several generations during military service. But the Comet was never built to a standard — they were custom made. This means each plane is slightly different than the others, and thus exorbitant to upgrade when installing millions of dollars worth of advanced electronics.
Only one MRA4 was ever built. “The single MRA4 aircraft that had been delivered to the RAF was so riddled with flaws it could not pass its flight tests, it was simply unsafe to fly,” Liam Fox, the former British Secretary of Defence, wrote in the The Telegraph in 2011.
Fox was attempting to justify the complete scrapping of the program?-?it wasn’t easy. Twelve under-construction MRA4s were disassembled, and more than $6.3 billion went down the drain. The U.K. is now considering buying P-3 Orion patrol planes from the United States to fill the gap.
HMS Astute run aground. PenumbraLpz /Wikimedia Commons
Rusty and broken submarines
In theory, the Astute-class nuclear-powered attack submarine is the most advanced British submarine ever built. In reality it’s underpowered, prone to numerous technical problems and is far behind schedule.
A replacement for Britain’s Trafalgar-class submarines, the 7,000-ton Astute class uses a Thales sonar — touted by the Royal Navy as the world’s best (which it might be) — while packing a combination of 38 Spearfish torpedoes and/or Tomahawk missiles. The sub also does not have a conventional periscope but a photonics mast, like a digital camera capable of seeing in infrared. There have been two Astute-class subs commissioned, the HMS Astute and Ambush. Four more are under construction, and a seventh is planned.
But neither Astute nor Ambush have become operational, owing to a number of problems and delays leaving the Royal Navy with only five aging Trafalgar-class subs in service. These older subs will be gradually decommissioned over the decade, and there’s rarely a time when a single Trafalgar-class sub is operational at any given time due to maintenance issues. HMS Tireless was put out of action earlier this year after a reactor coolant leak.
But what’s the problem with the Astute class? The main problem — and most serious — is that it’s achingly slow.
Designed to travel faster than 30 knots, the sub tops out below that (though how far below hasn’t been revealed). This means it can’t keep up with the ships like the under-construction Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers it’s meant to protect. In battle, that’s a potentially fatal flaw for the submarine and the carrier.
The reason for the trouble is believed to be incompatibility between the sub’s steam turbines which were built for the Trafalgar-class, and its nuclear reactor which was built for the giant Vanguard-class ballistic missile subs, according to The Guardian. Among other problems include corrosion, faulty monitoring instruments for the submarine’s reactor and even flooding during a dive. Astute also quite literally ran aground in Scotland in 2010 and had to be rescued.
Left out of this, of course, is the Harrier force. The Royal Navy’s carrier-launched jump jets were retired in late 2010, meaning the U.K. no longer has fixed-wing jets capable of operating from Britain’s one remaining ski-jump carrier, the Illustrious. However, the Royal Navy has pledged to buy F-35s for the Queen Elizabeth class. It may want to reconsider before more problems arise.
Robert Beckhusen is a collection editor at War is Boring, the site that explores how and why we fight above, on and below an angry world.
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