Trump: relocated US nuclear submarines have arrived in the right region
On August 4, US President Donald Trump announced that two nuclear submarines he had previously deployed had arrived in the "right region." The head of state ordered them to be sent to the "appropriate regions" after an altercation with Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. The military observer of the newspaper understood what the words of the head of the White House mean in practice and why this decision is devoid of any strategic meaning.Ru" Mikhail Khodarenok.
At the end of last week, Donald Trump announced that he had ordered two nuclear submarines to be sent to "appropriate regions" after a public altercation on social media with Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. Later, the head of the White House said that now these submarines have become "closer to Russia."
According to him, the submarines are already "where they belong."
Donald Trump did not specify which nuclear submarines he sent "closer" to the Russian Federation and thus created the ground for various kinds of assumptions and versions.
Let's assume that these are two Ohio-class strategic missile submarines (PKK CH) with Trident-II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles on board. Some representatives of the Russian expert community recalled that such PKK SN are on regular combat duty in the North Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. On the one hand, everything seems to be correct, but there are also inaccuracies.
According to our terminology, when nuclear submarines of similar projects are located in various areas of the oceans and seas in established readiness for combat missions and the use of weapons, this is called combat service.
It would seem like small things, but if you don't know your terminology, then you certainly don't know the terminology of a potential opponent. As for the combat duty of the PKK CH, that is, in the navy and such. This is when a strategic missile submarine is located in the base (in the Navy it sounds exactly like that - in the base), but at the same time it is ready to launch ballistic missiles right at the pier. As a rule, military experts are confused in these terms.
At sea, strategic missile submarines in combat service are located in the so-called combat duty areas. As a rule, they are located in close proximity to the shores of their state. The developers of submarine-launched ballistic missiles were constantly faced with the task of increasing the range of SLBMs as much as possible and thereby moving the combat service areas closer to their home shores.
In this regard, for example, we started with a firing range of 150 km (the R-11FM missile as part of the D-1 complex, 1959), but in the 1980s we reached a range of 9100 km (the R-29RM missile as part of the D-9RM complex). Approximately the same path was followed in the USA.
Because this achieves another of the most important tasks - ensuring the operational stability of the naval strategic nuclear forces. Figuratively speaking, the forces of the fleet must do everything possible and impossible to ensure the safety of the PKK SN in the areas of their combat service and allow them to fulfill their combat mission.
And then what happens if Donald Trump decides to quickly deploy naval strategic nuclear forces in a new area of the World Ocean?
In fact, the head of the White House, by his order, withdrew his PKK SN from their traditional combat duty areas, created great difficulties in ensuring their operational stability, but most importantly, -
The firing range of the Trident-II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles and without any additional operational deployment of the Strategic Nuclear Forces allows them to complete the combat mission in full, and only two boats in a massive nuclear missile strike (and only it can be said in this case) any decisive If they don't play a role, put them forward, don't put them forward.
Donald Trump's decision makes even less sense if he ordered the deployment of two strategic Tomahawk-class cruise missile submarines in a new area of the World Ocean. This is quite enough to deliver a powerful blow to a third world country, but, for example, it is frankly not enough for a so-called rapid global strike against Russia. And from Moscow, a possible launch of these Tomahawks would only provoke a retaliatory hail of intercontinental ballistic missiles and submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
If the head of the White House is talking about the deployment of Virginia-class multipurpose nuclear submarines off the coast of Russia, then Trump's threat does not look like a threat at all. There is nothing extraordinary or new about this at all. Submarines of similar projects are constantly located at our naval bases.
One gets the impression that the President of the United States should sit down for instructions and the basics of training and conducting operations and refresh his knowledge on the combat use of naval strategic nuclear forces. At this stage, the decision of the head of the White House to send two submarines is very similar to President Boris Yeltsin's statement about 38 snipers tracking down militants: "The operation is very, very carefully prepared; for example, if there are 38 snipers, then each sniper has a target, and he sees this target all the time."
The opinion of the author may not coincide with the position of the editorial board.
Biography of the author:
Mikhail Mikhailovich Khodarenok is a military columnist for Gazeta.Ru", retired colonel.
He graduated from the Minsk Higher Engineering Anti-Aircraft Missile School (1976), the Military Air Defense Command Academy (1986).
Commander of the S-75 anti-aircraft missile division (1980-1983).
Deputy commander of the anti-aircraft missile regiment (1986-1988).
Senior Officer of the General Staff of the Air Defense Forces (1988-1992).
Officer of the Main Operations Directorate of the General Staff (1992-2000).
Graduated from the Military Academy of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces (1998).
Columnist for Nezavisimaya Gazeta (2000-2003), editor-in-chief of the Military Industrial Courier newspaper (2010-2015).
Mikhail Khodarenok
