Thursday, July 08, 2010

Oh hai my Chinese friends

... on June 28 ... the Tomahawk-laden 560-ft. U.S.S. Ohio popped up in the Philippines' Subic Bay. ... the U.S.S. Michigan arrived in Pusan, South Korea, on the same day. and ... the U.S.S. Florida surfaced, also on the same day, at the joint U.S.-British naval base on Diego Garcia, a flyspeck of an island in the Indian Ocean. In all, the Chinese military awoke to find as many as 462 new Tomahawks deployed by the U.S. in its neighborhood.
We're just training, ya know - just like you do with your widdle SS.
Four of the 18 ballistic-missile subs no longer carry nuclear-tipped Trident missiles. Instead, they hold up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles each, capable of hitting anything within 1,000 miles with non-nuclear warheads.
Just say'n.

24 comments:

AW1 Tim said...

  Nice.....

   Too bad our Congress is hell-bent upon reducing our submarine fleet to paper-strength only.

   Every one of these SSGN's will be eliminated if the Frank commission has it's way.

SJBill said...

Beautiful deterrent force, indeed! Are those numbers multiples of 7 & 22?   ;)

Eagl1 said...

Got to make those port calls to make the point.

:-D

ShawnP said...

Oh Bubbleheads in Subic Bay........do I smell International incident?

sid said...

One of the more memorable duty nights I ever spent was at Port Canaveral...shared with the Ohio there for her first missile shoot.

We spent most of the night shuttling people back from the Melbourne PD, who had been engaging in a beach wide brawl with the bubbleheads....

C-dore 14 said...

Just a practical demonstration of the theory of "naval presence".

Wonder if the "Old West #2" is still open?  :-D

YNSN said...

Melbourne?!  When you had Cocoa Beach right there? 

I miss living there.

ShawnP said...

Not a bad port did a port call there in 89 after two lovely months being tortured in Gitmo.

sid said...

YN, as I remember, troubles started in Cocoa and spread as the night went on...

Good thing we were leaving the next day.

Salty Gator said...

Nice little bit of showmanship on our part......but it may be empty.  Barney Fwank and the democrats want to get rid of these beautiful boats.

Salty Gator said...

Oops, sorry AW1 you beat me to it!

Salty Gator said...

I like to write Barney Frank's name the way he pronounces it:  "Fwank"

DeltaBravo said...

Haha.  Was the USS Florida a bad submarine or something?  (Papa Bravo always said Diego Garcia was where they sent the problem children to sit and think things over.)  ;)

SCOTTtheBADGER said...

At least the FLORIDA is bigger than Hector, the resident Hammerhead at Diego Garcia, even if it isn't that much bigger.

ewok40k said...

SSGNs arent as flashy as CVN battlegroups, but much harder to counter...

Captain Joe said...

I seem to remember Fox Fallon soiling his trowsers when the Chinese sub surfaced within the security zone of the Kitty Hawk, and he then went kow towing to the bastids in Beijing. A most disturbing reaction by the new, diverse Flag class in control these days.

C-dore 14 said...

DB, Could just be the difference between who these boats are assigned to (PACCOM vs CENTCOM). Then, maybe DG is what passes for liberty in the CENTCOM AOR these days.

Wharf Rat said...

I can't believe the Obama administration supports these moves. 

These moves come from a position of strength!

Anonymous said...

What, Sal, no real overt praise for the Obama administration on this?  lol

Curtis said...

Aren't we supposed to be running in fear of the all powerful PLAN?  The rising power in the West?  Scary scary warships and submarines?  It's so hard to hew to the party line these days.  Oh well, I'm sure all will become clear after I eat these Reese's peanut butter chocolates.

And besides, I'm sure at least 2 of the 3 got lost and surfaced to ask for directions to Singapore. :)

CDR Salamander said...

Grow up. 

Not everything is about Obama ... or Bush.

mark said...

Wonderful picture, had co workers stopping by the cube to ask where it was and is the lagoon color realistic.  Interesting point, the Navy seems to be using the media in an effective fashion.  One doesn't generally view the DG.  Perhaps, they are making a point and aimed in what direction.  Three in PAC and one in the IO with tender, these boats can influence Asia or Iran without detection.  Spot on, USN.

El Jefe said...

Gotta love the 'stealth battleship'. 

surfnuccpo said...

DG is one place where they do crew swapping for the GNs.  Guam is another.