Stars and Stripes:
As the Navy’s submarine fleet shrinks over the next 13 years due to the retirement of its Cold War-era subs, it will look toward less expensive technology to offset the loss of boats like Michigan, service officials told Stars and Stripes.
However, as long as the Navy has its guided missile subs, they are getting plenty of use. USS Michigan had been on deployment for 21 months when it pulled in to Yokosuka Naval Base for a port visit earlier this month.
“My operational commander would like us to be at sea every minute that I can be,” said Capt. Joe Turk, Michigan’s Blue Crew commanding officer. “The only thing that limits sustainability is food.”
Michigan’s separate Blue and Gold crews typically fly from Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor, Wash., to Guam every four months or so, where they swap out command of the boat.
Michigan entered service as one of the Navy’s 18 Ohio-class nuclear trident missile submarines, known colloquially as “boomers.”
When the Navy cut the number of nuclear-missile subs to 14, it converted four of them to carry up to 154 Tomahawk missiles.
The four submarines began global deployments during the past decade. In 2011, the USS Florida took part in a guided-missile submarine’s largest-scale conventional combat operation when it fired 90 Tomahawks in the effort to defeat former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s forces.
When a guided-missile submarine isn’t firing Tomahawks, it functions much more like a smaller fast-attack submarine, though it retains the typically higher-ranking captain and crew structure of a boomer.
Both the guided-missile subs and fast-attacks conduct surveillance, train to fight ships and other subs, and conduct special operations.
Guided-missile subs have multiple lockout chambers to deploy SEALs and their vehicles underwater. They also have an extra 200 feet of length and a little more width than fast-attack subs, meaning special operators have more room to get comfortable, said Capt. Brian Humm, commodore of Submarine Squadron 19.
“[Special operations] is physically intensive — they work hard,” Humm said. “It’d be nice if they had own racks, it’s nice that they have tons of gear to work out with and … larger facilities.”
However, those are amenities that aren’t likely to last into the long term.
The current 30-year Navy shipbuilding plan calls for guided-missile subs to be decommissioned between 2025 and 2027….
