Salty Submarine Quote of the Month

BACKGROUND

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis to crew of USS Kentucky (SSBN-737) at Naval Base Kitsap, Bangor, Wash. on August 9, 2017. Edited news story here.

Note:  Molten Eagle applauds Gen. Maddog Mattis's use of plainspoken, un-politically correct language and combat appropriate attitude.

The Quote

"That means you're not some pussy sitting on the sidelines [color emphasis by M.E.], you know what I mean, kind of sitting there saying, “Well, I should have done something with my life.” Because of what you're doing now, you're not going to be laying on a shrink's couch when you're 45 years old, say “What the hell did I do with my life?”  Why? Because you served others; you served something bigger than you." - August 9, 2017, Unedited News Transcript, "Remarks by [U.S.] Secretary [of Defense Gen. James 'Maddog'] Mattis, USMC at a Troop Event in Naval Base Kitsap, Washington"

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Answers Sub Mystery Questions of the Week (22 AUG)

Background and illustration for questions is found at original posting here.

 ANSWERS -Sub Mystery Q.O.T.W.

1 - Of continental U.S. submarine bases at Kitsap, WA, Groton, CT, and Kings Bay, GA, which is closest to North Korea?  ANS: Groton CT.  "Frankly, we're the closest to North Korea if you go under the ice." - U.S. Rep. Joe Courtney (D-CT)

2-  What (two) unique naval facilities are co-sited with the 23 submarines at the Groton Naval Submarine Base?   ANS: Any two of the following -  The Naval Submarine Medical Research Laboratory (NSMRL), the Basic Enlisted Submarine School (BESS) , and the Submarine Force Library and Museum.

3- About how many staff people assigned to Submarine Group 2 are being reassigned to an admiral overseeing the Atlantic sub force from Virginia?  ANS:  Under the streamlining, the 45 people assigned to Submarine Group 2 are being reassigned, according to Lt. Timothy Hawkins, a Navy spokesman.

4- Current streamlining efforts aim to cut support staff for attack submarines based in Connecticut and Virginia by about what percent?  ANS: About 50 percent.  [ibid.]

5- How many attack submarines currently serve the U.S. Navy’s active fleet? ANS: 55.

6- The U.S. Navy's attack submarine fleet is projected to drop to about how many SSNs at its lowest point, and in what year is the low point expected?  ANS: About 41 subs by 2028. [ibid.]

7- Obvious strategies to maintain a U.S. submarine presence in Asia include lengthening submarine patrols, building subs cheaper and faster, and relying more heavily on sub coordination with friendly Asian countries. Who are four of the friendy Asian countries?  ANS: Australia, Japan, Malaysia and South Korea.  [ibid.]

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Submarine Mystery Questions of the Week - 22 Aug 14

Background
Although the answers to today's submarine mystery Q.O.T.W. are quite serious, we think the topic of our first question makes it appropriate to reprint Caruso's How submarines travel so fast underwater  from October 2008's The Dirty Secret of Submarine Speed for readers who never knew:

Sub Mystery Q.O.T.W.

1 - Of continental U.S. submarine bases at Kitsap, WA, Groton, CT, and Kings Bay, GA, which is closest to North Korea?

2-  What (two) unique naval facilities are co-sited with the 23 submarines at the Groton Naval Submarine Base?

3- About how many staff people assigned to Submarine Group 2 are being reassigned to an admiral overseeing the Atlantic sub force from Virginia?

4- Current streamlining efforts aim to cut support staff for attack submarines based in Connecticut and Virginia by about what percent?

5- How many attack submarines currently serve the U.S. Navy’s active fleet?

6- The U.S. Navy's attack submarine fleet is projected to drop to about how many SSNs at its lowest point, and in what year is the low point expected? 

7- Obvious strategies to on maintain a U.S. submarine presence in Asia include lengthening submarine patrols, building subs cheaper and faster, and relying more heavily on sub coordination with friendly Asian countries. Who are four of the friendy Asian countries?

ANSWERS:  Next Friday, 29 AUG

Submarines are always silent and strange.

Bravo! Navy!

Background

THEN ...
Since Sept. 11, 2001, the Coast Guard had escorted Sub Base submarines to and from sea. Coast Guard crews were armed and trained to protect the submarines against attacks by terrorists or saboteurs.

NOW ...
A Coastal Riverine Force  reserve squadron based in Newport, Rhode Island, now has a platoon based in Groton. Sailors using four boats will protect the submarines, said Lt. Cmdr. Charity Hardison, spokeswoman for the Navy Expeditionary Combat Command, which oversees CORIVGRU 2.


Points to Ponder

According to the official line reported here, the Coast Guard got the sub escort gig after Sept 11, 2001, by offering to do it because the Navy was busy preparing for combat in Afghanistan and later, in Iraq.

+  We know recent sequestration cutbacks are effecting both services, so it might make sense for the USCG to want to give the duty back to the Navy, right?

Well, Navy officials said they also are looking into using their forces to protect submarine transits in Norfolk, Virginia; Bremerton and Bangor, Washington; Mayport and Cape Canaveral, Florida; Kings Bay, Georgia; and San Diego.  

+ We know that the Naval Submarine facilities in Bangor, WA and Kings Bay, GA (underlined above) are support bases (homeports) for TRIDENT ballistic missile submarines. Is this really news? Have not all strategic weapons platforms been appropriately escorted?  Of course they have.

The services have not yet decided on the schedule, or on how the responsibilities for routine escort missions in each port will be divided. The Coast Guard would support the Navy during any contingency or heightened security environment, said  Lt. Cmdr. Brian Badura, spokesman for U.S. Fleet Forces Command.  "This re-leveling of effort is part of that normal process, which is necessary, especially in this financially-constrained environment," he said. ... It costs about $2 million annually to escort the Groton submarines, Badura added. The Navy does not reimburse the Coast Guard.

?  Lt. Cmdr. Badura "told the newspaper [ibid] the threat to submarines from terrorists and saboteurs has not diminished." 

- The words "not diminished" certainly does not rule out an increased threat from terrorists and saboteurs, does it?

What might lead to an increased threat and how might someone know if the threat level actually has increases? Answers to both parts of that question are the same, someone has been eavesdropping and the usual culprits are the only ones not upset about it:

If Osama bin Laden were still alive he’d chalk up this surveillance gone wild as a coup for Al Qaeda. More than a decade after the 9/11 attack it still has the United States living in fear and trading away freedoms for security. This is beginning to look like a war the U.S. is determined to lose, one way or another.  Source: The Toronto Star.  

Submarines are always silent and strange.