US submarine USS Ohio could be an important tool for Biden to send a message to China

But it is still perhaps the most formidable and versatile US weapons platform operating in the Pacific.

As the Biden administration demonstrates its commitments to American allies and protects a free and open Indo-Pacific, it has made statements with naval materiel.

And last week, he gave the region a new look at Ohio, showing the 18,000-ton guided missile submarine as it participated in exercises with the U.S. Marines around the Japanese island of ‘Okinawa.

Sidharth Kaushal, a naval expert at the Royal United Services Institute in London, describes the USS Ohio and its sister ships, the USS Michigan, the USS Florida, and the USS Georgia, as one-stop shops for getting missiles and troops. near an opponent’s territory.

And that could be significant compared to adversaries like China, which maintains a strong anti-ship missile capability but whose submarine defenses are still being modernized and refined.

“ Lots of firepower very quickly ”

Although it no longer carries nuclear missiles, the USS Ohio is nuclear powered, like all submarines in the US Navy. Known as the Nuclear Powered Guided Missile Submarine (SSGN), the Ohio is driven by a nuclear reactor providing steam to two turbines, which turn the submarine’s propeller.

The Navy calls its range “unlimited”, its ability to remain submerged being limited only by the need to replenish its crew’s supplies.

The relatively large size and power of the submarine allows it to carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 50% more than US guided missile destroyers and nearly four times what the last attack submarines of the US Navy are armed.

Each Tomahawk can carry up to a 1,000 pound explosive warhead.

“SSGNs can provide great firepower very quickly,” said Carl Schuster, former Navy captain and director of operations at the Joint Intelligence Center, US Pacific Command.

“One hundred and fifty-four Tomahawks accurately deliver a lot of punch. No opponent of the United States can ignore the threat.”

While the Navy may muster more destroyers to deliver missiles in even greater numbers, as a hard-to-detect, self-contained unit, the Ohio-class guided missile submarine sits alone in an ocean in the American arsenal, said Bradley Martin, a former Navy captain became a naval researcher at the think tank RAND Corp.

“The SSGN remains the platform with the greatest capacity to deliver conventional missile payloads,” said Martin.

The magnitude of this firepower was demonstrated in March 2011, when the USS Florida fired nearly 100 Tomahawks at targets in Libya during Operation Odyssey Dawn. The attack marked the first time that SSGNs have been used in combat.

Libya is not China, however, and the People’s Liberation Army (PLAN) Navy has many improving anti-submarine warfare capabilities that Libya does not.

Beijing has invested substantial resources in a growing fleet of underwater fighter planes and frigates and dozens of hunter-killer submarines, all with the aim of sinking enemy submarines.

But despite all of its progress, China continues to catch up. It was not a Cold War submarine power – and in submarine hunting the numbers have to be supplemented by experience.

“The question of knowing if they can do it depends on the quality of the networking of these assets and the good training of the operators – the opinions of the analysts on the progress of the PLAN in this field being quite different”, a said naval expert Kaushal. .

If the USS Ohio is operating in the Pacific, finding it becomes more difficult, as China’s anti-submarine force was designed to work closer to its shores, he said.

But even closer to shore, Ohio has a stealth advantage, analysts say. It is quieter than other attack submarines in the US fleet and would still pose a challenge for China to find in waters closer to its coasts.

That means it can bring its dozens of ground attack missiles closer to targets well inland, analysts said.

“SSGNs can take forward positions due to their stealth and strike targets deep within defended hostile areas,” Kaushal said.

And they have the element of surprise. Early warning air defenses that search for planes or surface ships moving towards an adversary lose their effectiveness when a submarine appears near a coastline.

“The SSGNs provide the US Navy with a long-range strike capability superior to almost any other asset in its service,” Kaushal said.

Adapt to new threats

The Ohio is one of the quietest submarines ever built.

Designed in the 1970s and commissioned in 1981 as the first of the United States’ Trident nuclear missile submarines, it was the epitome of strategic deterrence.

The Ohio and 17 identical submarines in its class all carried 24 Trident intercontinental ballistic missiles, each with up to eight independently targeted nuclear warheads. In theory, a submarine could have wiped out several cities in the Soviet Union in a single launch.

The submarines were designed to remain submerged for months at a time with the mission of rising up and delivering a devastating counterattack to any Soviet nuclear missile strike on American soil.

Under the sea, they went deep and remained silent, which made it difficult for the Soviets to keep an eye on them, thus preserving their deterrent value.

But when the Cold War ended and American tensions with Moscow eased, the need for so many ballistic missile submarines diminished. Ohio, Michigan, Florida and Georgia were going to be downgraded, but the Navy then decided their stealth capabilities could be reallocated to help respond to ever-evolving threats.

“This will be a key part of the navy’s participation in the global war on terror,” said Captain David Norris, naval SSGN program manager in 2007.

It meant making room for special forces.

Spaces for nuclear missiles have been transformed into new berths and bathrooms, enough to accommodate 66 Navy SEALs or other special operations troops.

The missile tubes were turned into lockdown areas that could be flooded and drained for divers to exit and enter the submarine. Deployments can also be done with a mini-submarine.

Hot water showers have been added for these troops to raise their body temperature once back on board. Drying rooms were built for their equipment.

There is even room for a simulated shooting range.

Meanwhile, the submarine has the space and equipment to become a command and control center, able to direct operations on neighboring coasts while maintaining a secret position under the ocean.

The Ohio was the first of four ballistic missile submarines to be converted to a guided missile submarine, beginning its first mission as such in 2007.

Since then, Ohio has operated from Kitsap Naval Base in Washington State and is often forward deployed to the US Subbase on the Pacific Island of Guam.

Tensions in the Pacific

Last week, the submarine and its crew of more than 150 exercises conducted exercises with reconnaissance elements of the United States Marine Corps Third Expeditionary Force off Okinawa, part of what the first chain of islands is called in reference to the obstacles that China must overcome to obtain its military forces. open Pacific access.

Photos provided by the US Navy’s 7th Fleet showed the submarine working with Marines in small boats and Osprey tilt rotor aircraft.

“Every time we train with our Marine Corps counterparts, it strengthens our ability to respond fluidly to regional challenges, deliver combat-proven capabilities and prevail in daily competition, in crisis and conflict.” Said Capt Kurt Balagna, commanding officer of Ohio, said in a press release.

“This unconventional concept could be a viable option in our combat toolbox,” said the Navy captain.

Major Daniel Romans, commander of the Okinawa-based Marine Reconnaissance Force, said the exercise was important for the versatility of his troops.

“As a reserve force in the first island chain, it is essential that Force Reconnaissance Marines be able to be employed on a myriad of US Navy platforms in order to improve the lethality of the fleet, ”Romans said.

RUSI analyst Kaushal said the Ohio – or its Pacific-based sister ship USS Michigan – could be vital in ending any possible U.S. conflict with China before it begins.

“To use a hypothetical example, if intelligence suggested that a short bloodless land grab against a disputed uninhabited island was being considered by China, the Ohios could be used to land forces sufficient to hold back a limited Chinese force if the Ohios were the assets closest to the stage.

“Getting US forces to the island before the Chinese get there would be the key to preventing a bloodless fait accompli and forcing the Chinese to choose between escalation and retreat,” Kaushal said.

If the Okinawa exercise was used to send a message to China, it wouldn’t be the first time that SSGNs have played this role.

At the height of tensions with North Korea in 2017, the USS Michigan made a stopover in Busan, South Korea, in what US officials quietly told CNN was a message to Pyongyang. announced the presence of the USS Georgia in the Persian Gulf, noting its armament of 154 Tomahawks.

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