USS Seawolf on the surface in a fjord near Tromsø, Norway on Aug. 21, 2020. USN
Warzone/The Drive: Navy Makes Unusual Public Display Of Its Secretive Seawolf Submarine's Presence Off Norway
The visible deployment of the advanced submarine is a pointed signal to Russia, which has stepped up its own sub operations in the region.
The U.S. Navy has released a number of pictures of the first-in-class USS Seawolf surfaced in a fjord near Tromsø, Norway last week. The service is typically very tight-lipped about submarine operations, in general, and even more so about its three highly advanced and secretive Seawolf class boats, which are known to be heavily involved in specialized intelligence activities, among other missions. This very rare public appearance in Scandinavia would seem to be intended, at least in part, to send a message to the Russian government about American underwater capabilities in the region.
The Navy first announced that Seawolf had visited Norway and was otherwise operating in that region on Aug. 21, 2020, which was itself an unusual public disclosure. The pictures of the submarine making what was described only as "a brief stop for personnel" appeared online on Aug. 25. It is very uncommon to see official photographs of this submarine, or the others in its class, outside of exercises or its homeport at Naval Base Kitsap in Washington State. Defense journalist Chris Cavas, who follows naval issues closely, noted on Twitter that this also appears to be the first time the Navy has released photos of Seawolf anywhere, in any context in five years.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: I do not see the public display of this submarine as a signal to Russia. The Russians know that these subs are operating near its borders. I see this display as a message to America's allies in Europe that the US is still committed to the defense of Europe.
4 comments:
Lets see here, the US economy is in shambles due to the ridiculous response to COVID-19, much of the country is burned out and hollowed out due to rioting and looting, the national debt especially when the unfunded liabilities are factored in is massive, much of the military is worn down due to ongoing fruitless operations around the world that not only don't advance our interests but actually undermine them, we are already in a low level Civil War that risks spiraling into something larger, and I could go on. The point is I simply don't see how America can commit to the defense of Europe right now. The country would have a hard enough time defending itself should an adversary choose this time to invade.
Why would Europe even want a defense agreement with the US? Perhaps as POTUS put it this was a good deal for them. If someone will pay for your defense while asking nothing of value in return, of course they would. Getting a valuable service virtually free of charge would be a good deal. With that said, while POTUS is behaving as if he is going to win in a landslide I'm not sure. If he loses, then this means BLM/ANTIFA rule America. If I were Europe, I would not trust them. Furthermore I wouldn't expect either Russia or China to react favorably to the crazies of ANTIFA/BLM being in control of thousands of nuclear weapons especially when it is their ilk who invented the twin myths of Russia collusion and interference in the last election and these are arguably the two most powerful militaries in the world.
Signal to Russians, signal to Europe...why can't it be both? Toward the end of the Cold War, our boomers departing Norfolk would sail surfaced when leaving port with their missile hatches open, timed to the presence of a Soviet spy satellite overhead. It was a signal to the Soviets that we were still fully in the game.
This is not a boomer. It's a very quiet, very much unknown class of ships to destroy Russian subs and conduct secret stuff.
I would imagine, picture or no picture, any opponent would be considering the possibility of US equipment to be somewhere anytime. Where is the question with which they must contend.
Post a Comment