In a rare comment about a vessel that’s part of the Navy’s “Silent Service,” the Pentagon on Monday confirmed that an Ohio-class submarine is now operating in the Middle East as part of the Biden administration’s effort to keep the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas from spiraling out of control.
On Sunday, U.S. Central Command posted an image of the nuclear-powered submarine on social media. It appeared to pass through the Suez Canal near the Suez Canal Bridge, about 100 miles northeast of Cairo. Pentagon officials declined to identify the submarine.
“The extent I’m going to go to is that it’s an Ohio-class submarine. It’s now in the 5th Fleet area of operations,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters. “What this does is further support our deterrence efforts.”
The U.S. said it has sent soldiers, weapons and ships to the region to deter any attempt to escalate the conflict beyond Gaza. It is part of an effort that has seen the U.S. order two carrier strike groups — the USS Gerald R. Ford and the USS Dwight Eisenhower — to the region along with Air Force jet fighters. U.S. and Israeli officials are both concerned that Iran or its regional allies such as Hezbollah in Lebanon or Shia militias in Iraq will use the current tensions to launch expanded operations against U.S. and Israeli targets.
While the Pentagon has confirmed that the vessel is part of the Ohio class of submarines, it declined to clarify what type of Ohio class submarine it is. Some Ohio-class submarines are armed with nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles, while others are designed to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles.
In late September, the Navy confirmed that the USS Florida had just wrapped up a two-month-long joint exercise with Norwegian military forces. The home port for the USS Florida and the USS Georgia is the Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base in southeast Georgia near the Florida border.
The other guided missile submarines are based in Washington state.
• Mike Glenn can be reached at mglenn@washingtontimes.com.