Maintaining Undersea Superiority: Status Report
The recent completion of a two-year, round-the-world deployment by one of the Navy’s oldest submarines speaks to the priorities of the U.S. submarine force—warfighting, people, and safety.
By Vice Admiral Robert M. Gaucher, U.S. Navy
October 2024 Proceedings Vol. 150/10/1,460
At the end of July, the USS Florida (SSGN-728)—one of the oldest submarines in the fleet—completed a 730-day deployment operating in the U.S. Northern, European, Central, Indo-Pacific, and Southern Command areas of responsibility. When the Houthis started attacking merchant shipping in the Red Sea in December 2023, the Florida quickly chopped to U.S. Central Command, carrying more than 100 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, and was ready on arrival for strike warfare tasking.
The story of how a 41-year-old submarine prepared for and then carried out a two-year deployment that spanned the globe illustrates Submarine Forces’s (SubFor’s) priorities— warfighting, people, and safety—which align with Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Admiral Lisa Franchetti’s focus on “Warfighting, warfighters, and the foundation that supports them.”1
The annual Operation Ice Camp is a combined operation to assess operational readiness in the Arctic. On 13 March 2024, U.S. Navy, Royal Australian Navy, and Royal Navy personnel posed in front of the USS Indiana (SSN-789) surfaced near Ice Camp Whale.
Warfighting
The submarine force deploys on time and according to plan in support of U.S. Strategic Command and the geographic combatant commanders. The force provides a credible nuclear deterrent and 100 percent of the nation’s survivable and enduring nuclear strike capability.
https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/2024/october/maintaining-undersea-superiority-status-report
