March 22, 2018, War Is Boring
Three U.S. and British Submarines Meet at the North Pole
ICEX 2018 involved live torpedo-firing
David Axe
Connecticut and Hartford at Camp Skate. US Navy Photo Two
American submarines and one British boat gathered near the North Pole in
mid-March 2018 for one of the biggest Arctic undersea exercises in decades.
ICEX 2018, the 27th in a series of roughly biennial
exercises dating back to 1959, kicked off in early March, when aircraft from
the Alaska Air National Guard and the Canadian air force began delivering
supplies to an ice floe inside the Arctic Circle.
The supplies allowed a military-civilian team to begin
building Camp Skate. The camp boasted accommodations for around 50 people and
the infrastructure for a wide range of civilian scientific experiments and
military training events spanning five weeks.
For the U.S. Navy, the exercise was an opportunity to
prepare for Arctic warfare. “The primary objective of this year’s ICEX is to
test new under-ice weapons systems and validate tactics for weapon employment,”
said Ryan Dropek, a test director at Naval Undersea Warfare Center Division
Newport in Rhode Island.
On March 9, the U.S. Navy nuclear-powered attack
submarines USS Connecticut and USS Hartford surfaced through three feet of ice
near Camp Skate. The Royal Navy fleet submarine HMS Trenchant surfaced on March
14 to join the American boats.
To punch through the ice, the submarines conduct what’s
called an “Arctic blow,” venting ballast to rapidly boost buoyancy.
With three submarines instead of the usual two, the 2018
exercise is the biggest in recent memory, and comes at a time of increasing
competition for the rapidly-warming Arctic region and its shipping lanes,
fisheries and mineral wealth. Climate change has thinned out year-round sea ice
and put the region on track for nearly ice-free summers in coming years.
But military interest in the Arctic isn’t new. During the
Cold War, the world’s leading navies considered the North Pole to be a safe
haven for submarines. In 1948, three conventionally-powered U.S. Navy
submarines first explored the edges of the polar ice cap. For the mission, the
U.S. Arctic Submarine Laboratory, based at Point Loma in California, installed
a special sonar aboard USS Boarfish.
Diesel-powered submarines require frequent surfacing,
limiting their endurance for under-ice operations. Nuclear power allows for
much longer voyages under the ice cap. In 1958, the nuclear-powered USS
Nautilus made the first crossing of the Arctic Ocean beneath pack ice. In March
1959, USS Skate became the first submarine to surface through the Arctic ice.
Coast Guard Diver 1st Class Dylan Smith dives into a
water hole during a torpedo exercise in the Arctic Circle in support of ICEX
2018. U.S. Navy photo
Skate and USS Seadragon conducted the first two-boat
rendezvous at the North Pole in 1962. Shortly thereafter, the Arctic Submarine
Laboratory modified one of its tests tanks, allowing researchers to freeze a
layer of water on the surface in order to test reinforced submarine sails that
are better suited for punching through ice. Many modern submarine designs
feature these hardened sails.
Naval interest in the Arctic peaked in the late 1980s. In
1986, USS Archerfish, USS Ray and USS Hawkbill completed the first three-boat
North Pole rendezvous. A year later in 1987, HMS Superb, USS Billfish and USS
Sea Devil converged on the Arctic for the first joint U.S.-British ICEX.
Arctic exercises ebbed during the “peace dividend” of the
1990s and in the early years of the U.S.-led war on terror. Climate change and
a resurgent Russia combined to make the Arctic “hot” again. ICEXs in 2011, 2014
and 2016 each involved two American submarines. ICEX 2018 echoed the
more-intensive Arctic operations of the 1980s.
While scientists studied the polar environment during
ICEX 2018’s planned five-week duration, the crew of Connecticut and
Hartfordsubmerged for torpedo trials — marking a major departure from previous
iterations of the exercise. The U.S. Navy immediately recovers any torpedoes it
launches during training.
In the Arctic, recovery poses a major challenge. “In
2016, divers tested and evaluated equipment which is being implemented for the
torpedo recovery this year,” explained Lt. Courtney Callaghan, a U.S. Navy
spokeswoman. ICEX 2018 involved divers from the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard.
After a submarine fired a torpedo, helicopters hauled
divers and support crew to the area where the munition ran out of fuel. The
team drilled holes in the ice for the divers, as well as a separate hole for
the torpedo’s extraction.
“Our divers slip into the water to begin placing weights
on a line attached to the tail end of the torpedo,” said Chief Warrant Officer
Michael Johnson, a Navy diver at ICEX 2018. “The weights help shift the torpedo
from a state of positive buoyancy to neutral buoyancy under the ice.”
Divers then installed brackets and cables around the
torpedo so that a helicopter could reel it out of the water.
“There is a certain level of difficulty to complete a
task on land,” said Builder 1st Class Khiaro Promise, another Navy diver at
ICEX 2018. “To be able to go underwater and do the same thing such as cutting,
welding and underwater demolition is such a unique challenge.” Especially under
the polar ice cap.
With climate change only accelerating and the Arctic
becoming more accessible by the year, the intensity of ICEX 2018 could signal a
new normal. The next ICEX should take place in 2020.
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