The nuclear attack submarine force in San Diego will nearly double within four years, according to information Navy leaders sent to Congress on Monday. Following the directions from a recently released defense analysis to increase its presence in the Pacific, the Navy said it will shift six submarines from the East Coast to the Pacific Fleet, including three to San Diego which now has four.
Strategery!
“Consistent with the global shift in trade and transport, the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review recommended that the Navy position 60 percent of its submarine force in the Pacific to support engagement, presence and deterrence,” a Navy official said.
The shift will support a change in deterrence toward more flexible approaches “appropriate for advanced military competitors,” which apparently refers to China, nations with weapons of mass destruction and “non-state terrorists networks,” the official said.
When the relocation is completed by 2010, the Navy will have 52 attack submarines, with 31 based in the Pacific and 21 on the East Coast. San Diego will gain three Los Angeles class submarines, in addition to the four currently based at Point Loma – the Ashville, Helena, Jefferson City and Topeka. The Naval base at Bremerton, Wash., 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 the information the Navy gave members of Congress.
On the losing side, New London, Conn., will drop from 17 to 14, and Norfolk, Va., will go from 11 to seven.
According to Rep. Susan Davis, D-San Diego, two of the submarines that will move to San Diego are the Albuquerque, currently based in New London, and the Hampton, now at Norfolk. 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,” Davis said in a statement. “This underscores the strategic significance San Diego plays in military missions of the future and national security as a whole.
“I know that San Diego will welcome the 270 officers and crew and their families with open arms.”
The transfer of the submarines could start as early as July 2007, the Navy said.
Welcome! |