NUCLEAR SUB, ON DISPLAY, SENDS REMINDERS

By Anna Fifield Washington Post5:06 A.M.AUG. 31, 2014

The Navy’s fast-attack nuclear submarines are usually supposed to stay out of sight, but when the Hawaii docked at Yokosuka Naval Base in Japan several days ago, the apparent idea was to make a very visible impression.

Big, dark and looming in the harbor’s waters, the Virginia-class nuclear sub showed up to reassure the Japanese that American power is still on their side — and still a force to be reckoned with.

“The United States’ capability used to be big and present on land but has increasingly been moved to the sea or back to the U.S.,” said Scott Harold, a political scientist at the Rand Corp. “Our allies don’t see us as much anymore, so they don’t feel as secure anymore. We can remind them, as well as our potential adversaries that might threaten us, that we are there.”

This message of reassurance is especially important at a time when — despite the rhetoric about a “pivot” to Asia — the United States remains overwhelmingly focused on the Middle East.

Although China is putting major efforts into increasing its submarine fleet and even cash-strapped North Korea likes to show photos of Kim Jong-un atop a Soviet-era sub, the U.S. boats are in a league of their own.

“I would take this ship and this crew against any submarine in the world,” said Cmdr. William Patterson, commanding officer of the Hawaii.

His submarine is a $2 billion, 377-foot-long stealth boat that can carry 150-plus crew members, 20 torpedoes and a dozen Tomahawk cruise missiles. One of 10 in its class, it is capable of launching strikes in the sea and onto land, conducting clandestine missions and launching SEAL special operations forces into the water — and getting them back again.

Based at Pearl Harbor, the Hawaii patrols the western Pacific.
The Navy has used its subs to send public messages before.

During a standoff between China and the Philippines over the disputed Scarborough Shoal in 2012, the Navy surfaced another Virginia-class submarine in the area to make sure the Chinese knew it was there.

“It was a show of force in response to bad behavior,” said Patrick Cronin, an Asia expert at the Center for a New American Security.

The Hawaii’s latest visit to Yokosuka, he added, “is not the same as the Scarborough Shoal, but the U.S. is taking a beating for looking weak and impotent and also for not properly resourcing the pivot, backing up our allies.”

There was widespread consternation in Japan and South Korea last year when President Barack Obama threatened to launch airstrikes on Syria but then backed away from them. The general sentiment in both countries’ halls of power was that, having made such a public declaration, Obama should have gone through with it no matter what.

The Hawaii’s job is not simply to threaten or unleash destructive power. Modern subs have advanced electronic sensors that collect intelligence by locating radars, missile batteries and command sites, as well as monitoring communications and tracking ship movements.

“One of the reasons we send them into China’s exclusive economic zone is to try to find out what they’re making and what they’re doing,” Cronin said.

Showing off the high-tech features of the Virginia class in the Hawaii’s control room, a relatively large space aglow with lights, the commander said the biggest difference was the shift to electronic rather than mechanical systems.

“It’s all about the periscope,” Patterson said, holding a joystick that looked like something a video game player might use, swinging the camera around to show people standing on the pier outside.

The addition of an infrared camera also has been revolutionary, giving the crew the same clear picture at all hours.

“SEALs talk about ‘owning the night’ because of the technology they have,” said Rear Adm. Stuart Munsch, who is in charge of all American submarines between the international date line and the Red Sea. “This is our equivalent — we own the night at sea.”

The silver metal lockout trunk enables as many as nine SEALs and all their equipment — including a mini-sub or dry-deck shelter — to go out of the submarine, through an intermediate chamber and out into the ocean.

Emerging from the boat and into the blazing sunlight outside, Munsch stood in front of the foreboding black Hawaii to sum up its role.

“In peacetime, submarines add certainty,” he said. “In combat, we take this same capability to sow uncertainty in the minds of the enemy. They don’t know where we are or when we will strike.”

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