Seawolf class returns Arctic capability to U.S. submarines |
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From The Naval Submarine League |
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By
Robert A. Hamilton r.hamilton@theday.com
Published on 7/10/2001 USS
Connecticut voyage demonstrates ability to operate effectively, safely
in a harsh environment. The
Seawolf-class submarine USS Connecticut returning to New London from its
Alpha sea trials in September 1998. The Connecticut has since
journeyed beneath the Arctic, where it showed that the Seawolf
class is able to operate with
full effectiveness. Groton
- The Navy has recaptured the Arctic. During a six-week mission under the North Pole this year, the USS Connecticut demonstrated that the U.S. Navy submarine force has not forsaken an area that has long held strategic significance. If
an enemy were going to launch a surprise attack on the United States,
the Arctic would be the staging point because it offers an ice cover to
conceal missile-firing submarines and its proximity provides a short
flight time to targets. In
May, the Navy retired the last of its best under-ice submarines, and
there were some who worried it was ceding that area of operations. Now,
though, it is back with something even better: the Seawolf. Cmdr.
Frederick "Fritz" Roegge, captain of the Connecticut, said the
Arctic is "the most challenging, most demanding, harshest
environment on the planet," but it is also an area of importance
from a national security standpoint as well as for environmental
monitoring. The
trip proved the Seawolf class of submarines can operate there safely
and effectively, Roegge said. While the Connecticut's voyage
marked a number of
firsts, mostly it was a chance to see how the ship's systems and
sensors behave in 29-degree water over an extended period, which
cannot be simulated anywhere
else, he said. Al
Hayashida, the ice pilot from the Navy's Arctic Submarine Laboratory in San Diego, has been on 17 previous submarine trips to the Arctic
and says he was doubtful about
the automatic ship control system on the Connecticut because there is so little room for navigation errors under
the ice. But the ship performed spectacularly. Hayashida
said the Connecticut performed better under the ice than either
the Sturgeon or the Los Angeles classes - and the Arctic
Submarine Lab is already
requesting additional time for research up under the ice.
Retired Navy Capt. James H. Patton Jr., president of Submarine
Tactics and Technology in North
Stonington, said he was encouraged the Seawolf
performed so well on its first Arctic expedition. "There
are certain skills that are so hard to learn that once you've mastered
them, you'd better hang onto them, and pass them on," Patton said.
"These are the kinds of things you don't do the first time out of
the gate. You have to practice it." He
compared Arctic operations to stalking enemy submarines.
"It took the submarine force probably 20 years to master the
skill of trailing submarines," Patton said. "If we let that
skill go away, the next time we need it, it will take 20 years to
perfect it again." Roegge
said the deployment gave him a chance to scan the underside of the ice with an underwater camera, and use the periscope to view
features such as the
emerald-green light that filters through the ice and the "ice
keels," spikes of ice that can extend almost 100 feet down.
"At
the time we were there, it was a 24-hour sunshine, so we could look up and see very clearly," Roegge said. "It looks
like the lunar landscape up there.
You really have the feeling you're in satellite looking straight down
and passing over these features." "It really was an incredible adventure," Roegge said. "That's an image I will carry with me forever." Last of the Sturgeons The
last submarine designed specifically for Arctic operations was the
Sturgeon, SSN 637. Ships of that class were in service from 1967
until the decommissioning
of the L. Mendel Rivers in May. Since
the late 1980s, Los Angeles-class submarines have been outfitted
with a hardened sail and other modifications that make them
capable of under-ice
missions, but submariners say it is not the best boat to take to the top
of the world. The
Seawolf class has been designed to operate in the Arctic, however, and Connecticut became the first of the class to surface at
the North Pole last month, experiencing near-freezing temperatures and a
brisk wind chill during an hour
spent on the surface, said Roegge. "It
was a much improved performance over what I remember on a 637,"
said Roegge, who did a junior officer tour on the USS Whale.
The Arctic was once the stage for cat-and- mouse games between
Soviet and U.S. submarines. In the early days of ballistic missiles,
security planners worried that the Soviets might sneak a submarine into
the Arctic to take advantage of its proximity to the United States. While
modern missiles have the range to be fired from much further away,
an Arctic launch would still give an enemy the advantage of a
short flight time, submariners
point out, so there is an advantage to be gained to remain dominant in
that area. Increasingly,
though, submarines venturing into the Arctic are conducting environmental research. Garry
Brass, executive director of the U.S. Arctic Research Commission, which
has cooperated with the Navy on a number of North Pole missions, said
research missions aboard the now-ecommissioned Sturgeon-class submarines
documented a 40 percent decrease in ice thickness during the last 40
years. The
Arctic is important from an environmental standpoint for two reasons,
Brass said: first, because any environmental changes associated
with global warming are expected to be more significant and show up
earlier there; and because deep-ocean currents that circulate out of the
Arctic means that changes there will eventually have an impact around
the globe. "The
more ice-capable subs we have, the better, as far as we're
concerned," Brass said. But he said the commission also realizes
that the operational schedule of the Navy's remaining submarines will
probably not accommodate
many pure research missions. "We
hope to find some new technology that could do some of this data collection," Brass said. To that end, it is
working with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center at Newport, R.I., on the
potential use of long-range unmanned autonomous vehicles in the Arctic. Connecticut's
flagship Roegge
said the Navy has a lot of information about how to operate
Sturgeon-class submarines and even Los Angeles-class submarines at the
North Pole. "We
were trying to develop a body of knowledge where there is none,"
Roegge said. Roegge said they were fortunate to find a small area of open
water at the North Pole just large enough to surface the ship.
Connecticut is designed to be able to break through the ice, but Roegge,
who surfaced through the ice during his time on the Whale, said that
kind of maneuver is always hazardous and must be approached carefully. "It's
very unusual, and not just the sensation of something resisting your movement, but the sound," Roegge said. "In
our world, hearing the hull scraping
against something is not a good thing - it definitely gets your
attention." Once
on the surface some of the crew had hoped for a chance to play
baseball or do something else a little unusual for the "top
of the world," but
Roegge said high winds and the currents were closing the hole in the ice quickly, so he decided to withdraw after about an
hour. While
many of the other details of the mission are classified, Roegge said the Connecticut had about 25 "riders" on
board, mostly Navy and civilian
scientists either monitoring the submarine's performance, or
conducting environmental studies.
Normally in that kind of situation he would leave as many crewman
as possible back in Groton for training courses, family commitments or
other reasons. "But
this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so we brought everybody
along," Roegge said. It
was the first time a ship of this class had been to the North Pole, and
the first overseas deployment of a Seawolf-class submarine, since
Connecticut pulled into Faslane, Scotland, during the trip. He
said it was also a busy time, with more than a dozen young sailors
finishing their technical qualifications and earning their
"dolphins," the submariner's
warfare pin. "The
people of Connecticut have an awful lot to be proud of in their flagship - and I'm not just talking about the
technology, I'm talking about the sailors," Roegge said, noting
that it is the only submarine named after a state where it is home
ported. "People who live in Connecticut should feel a sense of
ownership when this ship does great things." |