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 The Ohio-class
submarine USS Michigan (SSBN-727) enters the intermediate
maintenance facility at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard for an engineered
refueling overhaul and conversion into a guided missile submarine (SSGN).
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The
U.S. Navy is passing through a time of fundamental change. Older ships
and weapon systems that were developed primarily to counter blue-water
Cold War threats, with two superpowers butting heads for naval dominion,
are now giving way to more modern, versatile designs. Moreover, the
demise of the Soviet Union, combined with the rise in global terrorism,
has prompted the Navy to shift its focus to the littorals and adopt the
Sea Power 21 concept as a fundamental doctrine. An excellent example of
the effects of this change on force structure can be found in the SSGN
conversion program.
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The SSGN embodies the offensive
capabilities of SeaStrike, with the ability to launch up to 154 Tomahawk
cruise missiles from 22 of her 24 former TRIDENT missile tubes. That is
32 more vertically-launched missiles than are carried on the latest Ticonderoga-class cruisers and 58 more than
on Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
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Although generally,
older ships are being phased out and replaced by new counterparts as they
reach the end of their service lives, an interesting exception within one
warship class is already in progress on a much more compressed schedule.
The 1994 Nuclear Posture Review concluded that the Navy will need only 14
of its 18 USS Ohio (SSBN-726)-class ballistic missile submarines
to adequately provide the seaborne strategic deterrent that is the
nation’s most secure nuclear option. Rather than simply scrapping the
four oldest boats – Ohio, USS Michigan (SSBN-727), USS Florida
(SSBN-728), and USS Georgia (SSBN-729) – still highly-capable submarines
with 80-plus years of total operational life remaining, the Navy decided
to convert these ships into stealthy guided-missile strike and Special
Operations Forces (SOF) platforms. Currently, Ohio is scheduled
to complete conversion in November 2005, three years to the month after
she began a preliminary overhaul and two years after beginning actual
conversion. Florida began her preliminary overhaul in August
2003 and is scheduled to complete in April of 2006. Michigan
recently entered drydock in March 2004 for her overhaul, and will
complete her conversion in October 2006. Finally, Georgia will
begin her overhaul in March 2005 and will complete the conversion process
in September 2007, about the same time Ohio reaches Initial
Operational Capability (IOC).
The SSGN conversions
are designed to provide Navy leaders a strike platform capable of
fulfilling multiple roles easily and effectively, while at the same time
minimizing cost by leveraging existing hulls and their original builder’s
inherent knowledge of the platform. Since the Electric Boat Division of
General Dynamics built all the Ohio-class SSBNs, the company can
use its prior experience and detailed familiarity with the submarines to
take the lead in redesigning and converting them quickly and efficiently
to the new configuration.
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USS Ohio (SSBN-726) undergoes conversion from a
ballistic-missile submarine (SSBN) to a guided-missile submarine (SSGN).
By FY 2007, all four SSGNs, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia,
and Florida, are scheduled
to have completed conversion. Ohio is scheduled to attain
initial operational capability by 2007.
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Sea Power 21’s
principal elements are Sea Strike, Sea Shield, Sea Basing, Sea Warrior,
Sea Trial, and Sea Enterprise. These are all tied together through
FORCEnet, which subsumes the networks and communication systems that are
designed to give naval leaders an all-encompassing, real-time picture of
the battlespace. Sea Strike embodies offensive capabilities within Sea
Power 21. It provides the means to conduct sustained, precision attacks
on targets both at sea and inland. The SSGN will excel in this arena,
with the ability to launch up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles from 22 of
her 24 former Trident missile tubes. That is 32 more vertically-launched
missiles than are carried on the latest Ticonderoga-class
cruisers and 58 more than on Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.
The SSGN’s other two tubes have been redesigned to accommodate dual
five-man lock-in/lock-out chambers so Navy SEALs can exit the submarine
while submerged and perform their own strike missions. At a time when the
United States military is hunting terrorists in remote locations all over
the globe, being able to covertly launch a large number of
precision-strike missiles or deploy dozens of the world’s best sea-borne
warriors provides the Navy with extraordinary stealth and powerful new
capabilities.
The defensive focus
of Sea Power 21 is called Sea Shield. Its purpose is to defend American
territory, warfighters, friends, and allies, anywhere in the world’s
oceans and littorals. Thanks to their stealth and current plans to
exchange crews at forward bases, the SSGNs will be able to deploy
in-theater longer than almost any other Navy asset. Combined with their
state- of-the-art Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR)
capabilities for detecting and reacting to enemy threats, the SSGNs will
quickly become one of the Navy’s crucial Sea Shield elements.
Furthermore, the ships’ modular missile tubes will be able to host a
variety of other systems, including remote mine-hunting unmanned
underwater vehicles (UUVs) and possibly even unmanned aerial vehicles
(UAVs), thus greatly increasing their defensive capabilities.
The SSGNs’ incredible
size and mission flexibility will make them perfect platforms for Sea
Basing. Sea Basing emphasizes extending the Navy’s reach and
sustainability by using self-sufficient, mobile at-sea bases in forward
areas. Each SSGN will provide just such a sea base for up to 66 Navy
SEALs. In addition to the dual lock-in/lock-out chambers mentioned above,
each boat will also have the ability to host two Dry Deck Shelters (DDS),
two Advanced SEAL Delivery Systems (ASDS), or one of each. With all these
options for deploying Special Operations Forces (SOF), SSGN becomes
essentially a mobile SOF operating base right under the adversary’s nose.
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In October 2004, the
Navy will conduct a follow-on Sea Trial experiment called “Silent Hammer”
off San Diego. Building on the success of “Giant Shadow,” “Silent Hammer”
will test several new technologies, including the Flexible Payload Module
and the Stealthy Affordable Capsule System (SACS), installed aboard
“Silent Hammer’s” SSGN stand-in, Georgia. These features will
give the submarine a more flexible interface with the sea for
facilitating the off-load of weapons and unmanned vehicles.
The exercise will
also test an SSGN’s effectiveness in a more “Joint” scenario, with
networked forces at sea, in the air, and on land. This will be directed
from Georgia’s newly-installed Battle Management Center, which
will allow an embarked Joint Commander to make real-time, theater-wide
command decisions from underwater. As in “Giant Shadow,” “Silent Hammer”
will test an SSGN’s ability to transport and deploy SEALs and unmanned
vehicles to a target zone. Georgia will again launch simulated
Tomahawk missiles at land targets, but this time with the added
complexity of coordinating the attack with a Marine Expeditionary Strike
Group, which will also provide targeting information.
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SSGN
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