How Many Attack Submarines Does the U.S. Navy Need?
How many attack submarines does the U.S. Navy need? With Chinese and Russian SSN threats looming, the more, the better. But accomplishing the mission is essential, and the ability to do so might come from unusual quadrants.
So there’s strategic and operational logic to forward-deploying submarines. Cost and upkeep redouble the case for forward deployment. Want to add attack boats at a low, low price, in a hurry, and near depots able to maintain them, as well as close to likely scenes of action? Buy foreign. For instance, Japan’s navy operates diesel-electric attack subs acclaimed the finest large conventional boats on Planet Earth. It appears as though the U.S. Navy could acquire 5-6 Japanese-built diesel boats for the price of one nuclear-powered Virginia-class boat, and without the pricetag and the hassles that come with nuclear power. Navy leaders should inquire whether Japanese builders would like the extra business. One suspects they would.
And Japan occupies prime strategic real estate. Conventional propulsion sounds like a cost-effective way to multiply and distribute firepower among Pacific islands, supporting the fleet in its sea-denial cause.
The Western Pacific, the first island chain especially, is the U.S. sea services’ likeliest oceanic battlefield. Washington has to manage events there on a budget. Let’s embrace options that promise maximum bang for the buck at the right place and the right time.
About the Author: Dr. James Homes, U.S. Naval War College
Dr. James Holmes is J. C. Wylie Chair of Maritime Strategy at the Naval War College and a Distinguished Fellow at the Brute Krulak Center for Innovation & Future Warfare, Marine Corps University. The views voiced here are his alone.
