Following are headlines and excerpts from recent news articles on submarine issues. Click on the link to the publication to obtain a full text version of the article (Note: links are posted as they become available; additional links are in production).

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING ABOUT THE NATION’S SUBMARINE FORCE

Defense News
November 19, 2007

"I do believe the 313 is the low limit and the types of activities I see the Navy and Marine Corps involved in the future, particularly in the areas of maritime security and the cooperative approach that we have with friends and partners, the ships are going to be required to be able to do that."

- Adm. Gary Rougheed
Chief of Naval Operations, U.S. Navy

The Day
November 14, 2007

"I believe that producing two submarines per year is good for our nation, good for our Navy and good for our domestic industrial base."

- Rep. John Murtha D-Pa.

The Day
November 13, 2007

"We've turned the corner on the decline of America's submarine fleet. For over a decade, we've been limping along at one submarine a year despite the fact that the fleet size is declining at a faster pace than that. And this year, with the new Congress, we are taking action to stop that harmful trend."

- Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Ct.

Defense News
October 21, 2007

"I'm not surprised to hear that the submarine community has made good progress on meeting the cost reduction goal. Their approach toward reaching the goal has struck me as thorough, highly disciplined, and not overly reliant on optimistic assumptions."

- Ron O'Rourke
Shipbuilding analyst, Congressional Research Service

Defense Daily
April 3, 2007

"Those who say we are a Cold War relic really have not seen the submarine and are not familiar with our missions, training and thought process. I believe we have transitioned into the modern time and are providing real value to the nation."

- Rear Adm. Carl V. Mauney
Director, Submarine Warfare Division (OPNAV N87), U.S. Navy

"The U.S. submarine force continues to retain its significance in the largest and most important maritime region on earth. I'm not a submariner, but I tell you that submarines are the most important tool that I have, and anti-submarine warfare is my number one warfighting priority."

—ADM Gary Roughead,
Commander, Pacific Fleet

“The result of this crude but informative number-crunching gives the lump-sum value of an average American's life at $2 million dollars. How many lives does each Virginia-class sub need to save, while in commission, to break even for our country on this fundamental cost/benefit basis? If the Virginia price tag hits the urgent goal of $2.0 billion dollars, that sub needs to save 1,000 lives, hopefully by deterrence, and if not then by interdiction, or lower-casualty warfighting. The useful life of a Virginia hull is expected to be 33 years. (The hulls wear out due to metal fatigue from the repeated stresses of diving deep and surfacing.) This means each of the Virginia-class subs needs to save, on average, 30 lives a year to pay for itself. Abstract? Perhaps. Intangible? Sure. Meaningful? Definitely. In the dangerous, unpredictable world around us now, it doesn't sound like such a difficult performance goal to meet.”

—Joe Buff

Subs: Dollars and Sense

“We cannot afford to idly sit by and wait until 2012 to begin building two submarines a year. We need to immediately be ramping up production of submarines— otherwise we risk losing both our national security edge and the skill and expertise of engineers required to keep America at the cutting-edge of undersea technology development.”

—Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)

“There’s a considerable amount of concern that unaddressed this will lead to the atrophy of the submarine design base, which in turn could create significant problems for any future submarine design project we might want to undertake. There appears to be a general consensus that this situation needs immediate attention of some kind.”

—Ron O’Rourke
Navy Analyst, Congressional Research Service

“Our submarine supplier base is fragile. Beyond the slow rates of orders for their submarine related products they suffer from drastically rising health care, material, and energy costs and have to continually make decisions on whether to shift to more stable and profitable commercial product lines. We must hold on to these critical material and component providers.

“Our nation’s submarine base ‘corporate knowledge’ is at risk. If we lose the capability to design and build nuclear submarines, we will have nowhere to turn.”

—John Casey
President, Electric Boat Corporation

“This is a far more serious crisis if we lose 600 engineers and designers.  That is a staggering number of people, and if we don’t deal with this problem, the design and engineering skills so critical to our national security will be gone very quickly.”

— Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT)

“What does it take to build a submarine? Designers, first. But the design work is being significantly reduced, and once we dissipate these talented Americans, it is very difficult to call them back.”

—Representative Rob Simmons (R-CT)

“Military requirements should drive the budget, not the other way around.  I hope that the Navy’s requirement for a fleet of 313 ships will be matched with adequate funding in the president’s budget to achieve that goal over time. ”

—Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)

“The 377-foot Virginia is an impressive warship that feature state-of-the art technology throughout, including automated computer control, photonics, and laser technology that make the boat a marvel – and a whole lot of fun to command.”

—Commander Todd Cramer,
U.S. Navy Commanding Officer, USS Virginia

“[There is a] very viable and critical future with respect to the submarine force and I’m committed to that…

“It will require us in the shipbuilding plan to build more than one a year.

“The Virginia is a very important class to me and we need to get it out there.…”

—Admiral Michael Mullen
U.S. Navy Chief of Naval Operations

“There’s nothing more complicated, I think, that the Defense Department does than building nuclear-powered warships.  It’s the leading edge of technology, the leading edge of design.”

—Captain John S. Heffron
U.S. Navy (ret.) Navy Program Manager
for the Virginia-class Submarine Program
Naval Sea Systems Command

“If ... we can clandestinely move into place and observe without their knowledge (stealth), and stay there for a long time to determine patterns and trends (persistence), and collect local information not visible from a distance, then we are more likely to ascertain their true capability and intent.  There is only one platform that can effectively do this – the nuclear submarine.”

—Vice Admiral Charles L. Munns,
U.S. Navy Commander, Submarine Force U.S. Atlantic Fleet

“Today, the Submarine Force once again has adapted to the nation’s need.  Not only are our submarines actively engaged in the Global War on Terrorism, they are also poised to provide the combat power and tactical advantages against potential adversaries, ranging from transnational threats to potential peer competitors, today and in the future.”

—Admiral Kirkland H. Donald,
U.S. NavyDirector, Naval Reactors

“The submarine is actually more relevant to our future.  It is the only platform that can covertly get well inside an adversary’s defensive ring when a conflict begins.”

—Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Warfare Requirements and Programs

“With the Navy’s shipbuilding budget for the 2006 fiscal year slashed to a fraction of what would be needed to maintain the U.S. fleet, Electric Boat and shipyard supporters breathed a sigh of relief Monday when they learned the federal spending play includes one Virginia-class submarine.”

Virginia-class Sub Survives In A Tight Shipbuilding Year

“Rising war costs and a stubborn budget deficit have forced the Pentagon to propose billions of dollars in cuts to advanced weapons systems, as the military refocuses spending from its vision of a transformed fighting force to the more down-to-earth needs of its ground troops. … Submarines, also slated for cuts, have never been Rumsfeld’s favorites. Under the plan, the Navy would lose three advanced Virginia-class nuclear submarines.”

“Other nations are developing and fielding increasingly capable submarines that pose a potential threat to U.S. forces. The Virginia-class submarine is designed to operate and ensure access in the littorals, covertly performing multiple missions including intelligence and surveillance, strike operations, anti-submarine warfare, and Special Operations Forces delivery and support, while maintaining deep ocean dominance. The first Virginia-class submarine was delivered to the Navy Oct. 12, 2004.”

—Captain John Heffron

“The Virginia is the ‘most advanced warship ever to sail beneath the seas,’ said Admiral Vern Clark, chief of naval operations. The sub is the first to be commissioned by the Navy since 1998 and the first U.S. naval warship designed after the fall of the Berlin Wall to meet the emerging needs of the post-Cold War era.”

“We’ve always had depth control on submarines, but we’ve never had the fine control we have with this system.”

Subs Going Higher Tech –
New Equipment Provides Better Controls; Smoother Ride

“Jelinek said the U.S. Navy has continued to deal with the Flo-Tork for nearly 3 1⁄2 decades because the company is simply the best at what it does. Jelinek and director of engineering Don Locher have brought together a crack array of machinists and other specialists who relish the challenges posed by the precise machining work.”

“The Eagan operations of Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Fridley plant of United Defense Industries Inc. are among the 3,500 U.S. vendors working on the new Virginia-class submarines. The Virginia-class is the Navy’s latest nuclear-powered attack submarine, designed to replace the country’s aging fleet of Los Angeles-class attack subs.”

“The Navy’s shipbuilding aspirations have plummeted from the days when Ronald Reagan aimed for a 600-ship arsenal and missed the goal by only six ships. The Navy has more than 290 ships and has said it wants up to 90 more. The proposal is an acknowledgement the Navy will not be able to reach its goals under the current tight budget conditions, industry analyst say.”

“The U.S. Navy’s debate over the ideal size of the nation’s submarine fleet is central to the fortunes of nearly 400 local suppliers who have inked $332 million in submarine contracts during the past six years.”

Cuts to Submarine Fleet May Swamp Local Firms

“In the coming months and years, our nation will have to make difficult choices about technologies that have served us well but are no longer needed. Submarines, however, are not relics of the past. They meet critical needs today, and are likely to be even more essential tomorrow. We cannot afford to lose them.”

—Sen. Chris Dodd, (D-CT)

“This [USS Virginia] sea trial was an absolute success, a clean sweep, as we say in the Navy. It met every expectation of mine, for the propulsion plan and for the ship.”

—Admiral Frank Bowman,
U.S. Navy Director of Naval Nuclear Propulsion

“Newest submarine impresses brass after three days of tests.”

Smooth Sailing: Virginia’s Sea Trials ‘Went Great’