Text Fwd: US Nuclear Submarines In Arctic Wartime Operations Drills

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US Nuclear Submarines In Arctic Wartime Operations Drills
Thu Mar 26, 2009 6:14 pm (PDT)

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=53647
US Department of Defense
American Forces Press Service
March 25, 2009

Navy Submariners Participate in Arctic Ocean Exercise
By Gerry J. Gilmore

WASHINGTON – A group of Navy submariners are practicing wartime operations off the coast of northern Alaska as part of Ice Exercise 2009, the commander of the exercise said today.

Two Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarines, the USS Helena and the USS Annapolis, are participating in this year’s ICEX, said Navy Captain Greg Ott, a submariner who is also the deputy operations director for Submarine Force Command, based in Norfolk, Va.

The USS Helena is home-based in San Diego, while the USS Annapolis is home-ported in Groton, Conn.

“We’re maintaining our proficiency in arctic operations,” Ott said today during a telephone interview with American Forces Press Service.

The submariners, Ott said, are testing torpedo and sonar systems, while practicing wartime operations in an arctic environment. The exercise, he said, is slated to end in early April.
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U.S. nuclear submarines have operated under the polar ice since 1958, Ott said, when the USS Nautilus became the first submarine to complete a submerged trip to reach the North Pole.

Arctic submarine operations are important to U.S. national defense, according to Navy documents. Accordingly, the Navy’s submarine force must be highly trained in arctic-water operations to provide and ensure access to strategic areas worldwide.

Continents of the Northern Hemisphere - Europe, Asia and North America - all share the Arctic Ocean.
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