February 19, 2024
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.
by James Holmes
How many attack submarines does the U.S. Navy need?
The more, the better. But accomplishing the mission is the important thing, and the ability to do so might come from unusual quadrants. Never reject unconventional options out of hand. That includes beneath the waves.
Let’s start from first principles to get some purchase on questions of undersea force structure. The 2020 triservice maritime strategy, titled Advantage at Sea, remains silent about numbers of hulls, airframes, and armaments. It’s a strategic concept more than a full-fledged strategy connecting means to ends. But the directive does lay out in general terms how the sea services—the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard—intend to approach operations throughout the continuum from competing in peacetime to fighting wars and back again.
Guidance from on high is not a bad place to start.
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-many-attack-submarines-does-us-navy-need%C2%A0-209493
