On November 26, USS Minnesota, a new Virginia-class attack submarine, arrived at her new homeport in Guam. The 377-foot, nuclear-powered attack boat and her 134 sailors joined four older Los Angeles-class boats that have sailed from Guam for years.
What may have looked like a routine ship movement in fact signalled a sea-change in US and allied naval posture in the Pacific region. The coming change could prove critical in the most frightening – and increasingly likely – contingency: a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
The US Navy is moving more of its best attack subs to Guam in order to cut down the time it takes the boats to reach their hunting grounds around Taiwan. The Royal Navy means to follow suit in the coming years – sending an Astute-class attack boat to join American and future Australian boats at a planned coalition sub base in Australia.
In all three navies, the submarine force is traditionally known as “the Silent Service,” due to their habit of never disclosing what they’re doing. As a US sub admiral explained during World War II:
“Combat with the enemy ... is the point at which most submarine news stops, and silence begins.
“The submariner’s battle area is the enemy’s doorstep ... our submarines are in contact with the enemy from the time they leave their base until they return. At the present writing, the Navy Department has reported the sinking of 461 Japanese ships by our submarines, with an additional 150 possibly sunk or damaged. These are mortal blows to the enemy. And you can be sure he would spare nothing, and give much for the smallest facts of how our submarines operate and what their methods are.”
On November 26, USS Minnesota, a new Virginia-class attack submarine, arrived at her new homeport in Guam. The 377-foot, nuclear-powered attack boat and her 134 sailors joined four older Los Angeles-class boats that have sailed from Guam for years.
What may have looked like a routine ship movement in fact signalled a sea-change in US and allied naval posture in the Pacific region. The coming change could prove critical in the most frightening – and increasingly likely – contingency: a Chinese attack on Taiwan.
The US Navy is moving more of its best attack subs to Guam in order to cut down the time it takes the boats to reach their hunting grounds around Taiwan. The Royal Navy means to follow suit in the coming years – sending an Astute-class attack boat to join American and future Australian boats at a planned coalition sub base in Australia.
In all three navies, the submarine force is traditionally known as “the Silent Service,” due to their habit of never disclosing what they’re doing. As a US sub admiral explained during World War II:
“Combat with the enemy ... is the point at which most submarine news stops, and silence begins.
“The submariner’s battle area is the enemy’s doorstep ... our submarines are in contact with the enemy from the time they leave their base until they return. At the present writing, the Navy Department has reported the sinking of 461 Japanese ships by our submarines, with an additional 150 possibly sunk or damaged. These are mortal blows to the enemy. And you can be sure he would spare nothing, and give much for the smallest facts of how our submarines operate and what their methods are.”