With an eye toward protecting sensitive assets that lie on the ocean floor, the U.S. Navy has commissioned a next-generation attack-class submarine that can sneak along the ocean floor and perform covert operations. These operations could include deploying Navy SEALS, retrieving parts from rockets and missiles used in testing, tapping deep-sea communications cables, locating and protecting rare earth mineral deposits and other secret missions.
According to NavalNews.com, the submarine is in development at the General Dynamics Electric Boat shipyard in Groton, Connecticut, and likely would be a modified Virginia-class submarine capable of acting as a “mothership” for underwater vehicles, remotely operated vehicles, or ROVs, and other submersibles that can easily maneuver around the sea floor.
The submarine will cost roughly $5.1 billion. A standard Virginia-class submarine cost $3.45 billion in 2021.
While specific details of the hull design are closely guarded for national security, the new submarine is expected to bolster – and could eventually succeed – the USS Jimmy Carter, a Seawolf-class submarine commissioned in 2005 and presently the only special-mission sub of its kind deployed by the Navy. Like the submarine under construction, the Jimmy Carter sports a 100-foot hull extension called a multi-mission platform.
The multi-mission platform, or MMP, is a fortified section of the hull that can turn the submarine into a hangar of sorts for a host of deep-sea exploratory instruments. Because the MMP connects the fore and aft sections of the submarine, a tapered passageway called a “wasp waist” passes through the MMP, allowing crew and boat-length wiring to connect both ends of the craft.
Newer generation Virginia-class subs are equipped with Virginia Payload Modules, or VPM, to carry Tomahawk cruise missiles, extending the sub’s body by 84 feet. With the modified spy sub, the VPM space could account for the extra space needed for the multi-mission platform.
The new submarine will bolster the Navy’s existing fleet of attack-class submarines. The Virginia-class submarine first entered service in 2004 and was designed to be less expensive and better optimized than the Seawolf-class design, which was tailored for military needs associated with the Cold War.
The ocean floor, especially beyond coastal waters protected by maritime laws, has the potential to become a new area of conflict among nations. The floor contains a vast wealth of man-made and natural assets: fiber-optic communications cables, sensitive parts related to rocket and missile tests and deepwater drilling for fossil fuel deposits.
The biggest concern for the U.S. government is the vast network of undersea cables – both civilian and military – that crisscross the oceans, connecting continents and the telecommunications firms that rely on them. The U.S. Navy alone estimates it has more than 40,000 miles of cables on the ocean floor.
Here’s a 2018 snapshot of the cable rigs prepared by telecommunications consulting firm TeleGeography that gives a glimpse into just how robust that network has become:
Another interest related to national security is the vast quantities of rare-earth minerals and precious metals in deposits under the ocean’s floor in international waters. According to the Government Accountability Office, the seabed holds a variety of highly coveted minerals – cobalt, manganese and titanium to name a few – used in everything from smartphones to aircraft components. As mining interests expand, stakeholders and nations will look to protect those interests
SOURCES U.S. Navy Fact File; Congressional Research Service; U.S. Government Accountability Office; TeleGeography
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