March 26, 2014
Cold War Echoes Under the Arctic Ice
Julian E. Barnes
Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2014
BENEATH THE ARCTIC OCEAN—Five hundred feet below the Arctic ice cap, the USS New Mexico’s crew filled two torpedo tubes. “Match sonar bearings and shoot,” ordered the skipper, Cmdr. Todd Moore. The air pressure rose sharply as a simulated torpedo headed toward its simulated target: a Russian Akula-class submarine.
The Arctic exercise, one of two over this past weekend, was intended as a show of U.S. force for the benefit of America’s allies, defense officials said. The drills were arranged before Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea province, these people said, but have taken on new geopolitical significance as tensions soar between East and West.
The simulated attack came amid a new era of increasingly cold U.S. relations with Moscow. U.S.-Russian cooperation in the Arctic came to a sudden halt after the U.S. recently canceled a joint naval exercise in the northern waters and a bilateral meeting on Coast Guard Arctic operations. The U.S. also put on hold work on an Arctic submarine rescue partnership.
"This trip had a slightly different cast to it because hunting mythical submarines took on more urgency," said Sen. Angus King (I., Maine), who came as an observer. "This is the only ocean where we confront each other."
Defense officials said they chose a Russian simulated sub as the target because that was the only other nation that operates in the Arctic. Moreover, these people said the exercise wasn’t a signal that the U.S. sees a military conflict on the horizon.
Russian officials didn’t respond to a request to comment.
Across the Arctic Ocean, the U.S. has been conducting ice exercises with submarines since 1947. During the 1980s, the Navy had three ice camps a year, a frequency that declined rapidly after the Cold War’s end. The Navy is considering a renewed commitment to the Arctic as a retreating ice sheet opens up new sea lanes and makes oil exploration more feasible.
The U.S. held weekend submarine drills beneath the Arctic ice cap, involving the use of a provocative simulated target: A Russian sub. Julian Barnes was there and joins the News Hub with details.
As part of the exercise, which took place 150 miles off the north coast of Alaska, the Navy sent two subs beneath the Arctic Ocean to test their ability to operate, punch through the ice, find other submarines, hide and fire their torpedoes. The Navy publicized its exploits on social media.
Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, who viewed the exercise, said showcasing American subs’ ability to operate and to collect intelligence in any corner of the world undetected is critical to U.S. security. The U.S. has a fleet of 72 subs compared with Russia’s approximate 60.
"If our allies and friends are reassured, that is a deterrent," said Adm. Greenert. "It is about being able to get to any area of the world and people understanding that we can."
The same weekend, 440 U.S. Marines concluded another Arctic exercise, this one in northern Norway with other allied troops, near the Russian border.
Norway says it plans to continue cooperating with Russia on search-and-rescue missions in the Arctic, but is reviewing its military-to-military cooperation with Moscow, said Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide. Norway is building a $125 million pier to help make it easier to move American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization military gear in and out of the country, U.S. defense officials said.
Ms. Soreide said she didn’t want to remilitarize the border. “At the same time we do have, and want to have, situational awareness for our own country and the alliance,” she said in an interview.
Across the Arctic Ocean, Ice Camp Nautilus, this year’s base, was named after the first sub to transit the Arctic in 1958. Basically a tent and some temporary wooden shacks perched on a cracked and shifting chunk of ice, the camp conducted a variety of Arctic experiments and tests, including the ability of a new Navy satellite system to send and transmit classified data more reliably in the high north than older satellites.
This year, the first ice exercise since 2011, the Navy sent two subs—the USS New Mexico and the USS Hampton, an older Los Angeles class.
Inside the New Mexico, many of the crew was trying to pay close attention to Crimea. But underwater for weeks at a time, the crew was cut off from news reports, save for what comes from an encrypted, very-low-frequency radio signal that penetrates the ice and delivers a news report a page and a half long.
Petty Officer Third Class Christopher Willis, who was drawn to undersea service by devouring tales of submarine prowess in the Cold War, was skeptical there would be a submarine shooting war soon. The real importance of America’s undersea fleet is its intelligence gathering, he said.
"It is not about putting warheads on foreheads," he said. "It is about finding out things."
Adm. Greenert said that despite tensions with Russia, he didn’t foresee a return to a military competition in the Arctic and hopes to restart cooperation.
But for at least a portion of the exercise, the simulated fight raged as Cmdr. Moore demonstrated his sub’s ability. As the crew prepared to fire the simulated torpedo, Sen. King asked Cmdr. Moore if there were Russian subs in the Arctic. The commander said Russian forces were usually found closer to their bases on Russia’s northern coast. But, he emphasized, a sub crew must always be listening. “We never assume we are out here alone,” he said.
Cold War Echoes Under the Arctic Ice
Julian E. Barnes
Wall Street Journal, March 25, 2014
BENEATH THE ARCTIC OCEAN—Five hundred feet below the Arctic ice cap, the USS New Mexico’s crew filled two torpedo tubes. “Match sonar bearings and shoot,” ordered the skipper, Cmdr. Todd Moore. The air pressure rose sharply as a simulated torpedo headed toward its simulated target: a Russian Akula-class submarine.
The Arctic exercise, one of two over this past weekend, was intended as a show of U.S. force for the benefit of America’s allies, defense officials said. The drills were arranged before Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea province, these people said, but have taken on new geopolitical significance as tensions soar between East and West.
The simulated attack came amid a new era of increasingly cold U.S. relations with Moscow. U.S.-Russian cooperation in the Arctic came to a sudden halt after the U.S. recently canceled a joint naval exercise in the northern waters and a bilateral meeting on Coast Guard Arctic operations. The U.S. also put on hold work on an Arctic submarine rescue partnership.
"This trip had a slightly different cast to it because hunting mythical submarines took on more urgency," said Sen. Angus King (I., Maine), who came as an observer. "This is the only ocean where we confront each other."
Defense officials said they chose a Russian simulated sub as the target because that was the only other nation that operates in the Arctic. Moreover, these people said the exercise wasn’t a signal that the U.S. sees a military conflict on the horizon.
Russian officials didn’t respond to a request to comment.
Across the Arctic Ocean, the U.S. has been conducting ice exercises with submarines since 1947. During the 1980s, the Navy had three ice camps a year, a frequency that declined rapidly after the Cold War’s end. The Navy is considering a renewed commitment to the Arctic as a retreating ice sheet opens up new sea lanes and makes oil exploration more feasible.
The U.S. held weekend submarine drills beneath the Arctic ice cap, involving the use of a provocative simulated target: A Russian sub. Julian Barnes was there and joins the News Hub with details.
As part of the exercise, which took place 150 miles off the north coast of Alaska, the Navy sent two subs beneath the Arctic Ocean to test their ability to operate, punch through the ice, find other submarines, hide and fire their torpedoes. The Navy publicized its exploits on social media.
Adm. Jonathan Greenert, chief of naval operations, who viewed the exercise, said showcasing American subs’ ability to operate and to collect intelligence in any corner of the world undetected is critical to U.S. security. The U.S. has a fleet of 72 subs compared with Russia’s approximate 60.
"If our allies and friends are reassured, that is a deterrent," said Adm. Greenert. "It is about being able to get to any area of the world and people understanding that we can."
The same weekend, 440 U.S. Marines concluded another Arctic exercise, this one in northern Norway with other allied troops, near the Russian border.
Norway says it plans to continue cooperating with Russia on search-and-rescue missions in the Arctic, but is reviewing its military-to-military cooperation with Moscow, said Norwegian Defense Minister Ine Eriksen Soreide. Norway is building a $125 million pier to help make it easier to move American and North Atlantic Treaty Organization military gear in and out of the country, U.S. defense officials said.
Ms. Soreide said she didn’t want to remilitarize the border. “At the same time we do have, and want to have, situational awareness for our own country and the alliance,” she said in an interview.
Across the Arctic Ocean, Ice Camp Nautilus, this year’s base, was named after the first sub to transit the Arctic in 1958. Basically a tent and some temporary wooden shacks perched on a cracked and shifting chunk of ice, the camp conducted a variety of Arctic experiments and tests, including the ability of a new Navy satellite system to send and transmit classified data more reliably in the high north than older satellites.
This year, the first ice exercise since 2011, the Navy sent two subs—the USS New Mexico and the USS Hampton, an older Los Angeles class.
Inside the New Mexico, many of the crew was trying to pay close attention to Crimea. But underwater for weeks at a time, the crew was cut off from news reports, save for what comes from an encrypted, very-low-frequency radio signal that penetrates the ice and delivers a news report a page and a half long.
Petty Officer Third Class Christopher Willis, who was drawn to undersea service by devouring tales of submarine prowess in the Cold War, was skeptical there would be a submarine shooting war soon. The real importance of America’s undersea fleet is its intelligence gathering, he said.
"It is not about putting warheads on foreheads," he said. "It is about finding out things."
Adm. Greenert said that despite tensions with Russia, he didn’t foresee a return to a military competition in the Arctic and hopes to restart cooperation.
But for at least a portion of the exercise, the simulated fight raged as Cmdr. Moore demonstrated his sub’s ability. As the crew prepared to fire the simulated torpedo, Sen. King asked Cmdr. Moore if there were Russian subs in the Arctic. The commander said Russian forces were usually found closer to their bases on Russia’s northern coast. But, he emphasized, a sub crew must always be listening. “We never assume we are out here alone,” he said.
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