Copley News Service / San Diego Union-Tribune February 28, 2006
Nuclear sub force to nearly double
By Otto Kreisher and Steve Liewer
The nuclear attack-submarine force in San Diego will nearly double within four years, the Navy said yesterday.
Six submarines will move from the East Coast to the Pacific Fleet, the Navy said in a statement. Three will come to San Diego.
The shifts reflect a recently released defense analysis calling for an increased naval presence in the Pacific. The report, called the Quadrennial Defense Review, recommended that Navy officials place 60 percent of their submarine force in the Pacific, partly because of wariness over China's rapidly expanding naval force.
Attack submarines form the backbone of the Navy's underwater fleet. They are capable of launching torpedoes and Tomahawk cruise missiles, according to the military Web site globalsecurity.org. They can deploy special operations forces, lay mines, strike land-based targets and battle enemy subs.
Having additional attack subs in the West Coast will make it easier for them to deploy with aircraft carrier strike groups, said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Davis, a spokesman for the Hawaii-based Submarine Forces Pacific.
“Having submarines in San Diego allows us to do that without sending subs back from Hawaii,” he said.
When the relocation is completed by 2010, the Navy will have 52 attack submarines – 31 based in the Pacific and 21 on the East Coast. Currently, 25 subs are based in the Pacific and 28 in the Atlantic.
San Diego will gain three Los Angeles-class submarines. It now has four based at Point Loma Naval Station: the Asheville, Helena, Jefferson City and Topeka.
The naval base at Bangor, Wash., near Bremerton, will go from one to three attack boats. Pearl Harbor will gain one, for a total of 18. And Guam will stay at three, according to information the Navy gave members of Congress.
On the East Coast, New London, Conn., will drop from 17 submarines to 14, and Norfolk, Va., will go from 11 to seven.
Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, said two of the submarines that will move to San Diego are the Albuquerque, currently based in New London, and the Hampton, now at Norfolk. The third hasn't been selected, she said.
Each submarine has a crew of 135 officers and enlisted personnel and an annual payroll of about $9.1 million, Davis said.
“I am pleased to welcome the Albuquerque and the Hampton to San Diego,” she said in a statement. “I know that San Diego will welcome the 270 officers and crew and their families with open arms.”
The total figures don't add up because several submarines will be decommissioned and new submarines brought into the fleets.
The transfer of the submarines could start as early as July 2007, the Navy said.
© Copyright 2006, Union-Tribune Publishing Co.
