US Central Command
An image shared by US Central Command appears to show a guided missile submarine in the Suez Canal passing under the Al Salam Bridge northeast of Cairo.
CNN –
In a rare announcement, the US military said a guided-missile submarine had arrived in the Middle East. This is a message of deterrence clearly aimed at regional adversaries as the Biden administration seeks to avoid a major conflict amid the Israel-Hamas war.
U.S. Central Command said on social media Sunday that an Ohio-class submarine was entering its area of responsibility. An image released with the announcement appeared to show the submarine in the Suez Canal, northeast of Cairo.
The social media post did not provide a name for the submarine, but the U.S. Navy has four Ohio-class guided-missile submarines (SSGNs), which are former ballistic missile submarines that have been converted to fire Tomahawk cruise missiles instead of nuclear-tipped ballistic missiles.
Each SSGN can carry 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles, 50% more than U.S. guided-missile destroyers and nearly four times the armament of the U.S. Navy’s newest attack submarines.
Each Tomahawk can carry a high-explosive warhead weighing up to 1,000 pounds.
“SSGNs can deliver a lot of firepower very quickly,” Carl Schuster, a former operations manager at the US Pacific Command’s Joint Intelligence Center, told CNN in 2021.
“One hundred and fifty-four tomahawks deliver precise, high-impact power. No adversary of the United States can ignore the threat.”
The extent of this firepower was demonstrated in March 2011, when the guided-missile submarine USS Florida fired nearly 100 Tomahawks at targets in Libya during Operation Odyssey Dawn. The attack was the SSGNs’ first use in combat.
The military rarely discloses the movements or operations of its fleet of ballistic and guided missile submarines. Instead, the nuclear-powered ships operate in almost complete secrecy.
The announcement is a clear message of deterrence aimed at Iran and its proxies in the region. The submarine joins a number of other U.S. Navy units already in the area, including two carrier strike groups and an amphibious task force.
In April, the Navy announced that the USS Florida, one of two East Coast-based SSGNs, was deployed to the Middle East.
In June, the Navy publicized the visit of one of its two West Coast-based SSGNs, the USS Michigan, to South Korea as a sign of U.S. commitment to its Indo-Pacific allies.
The announcement of a guided-missile submarine in the region comes as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held a series of meetings with US partners in the Middle East. In a whirlwind trip, Blinken visited Turkey, Iraq, Israel, the West Bank, Jordan and Cyprus.
On Sunday, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant. In addition to emphasizing the need to protect civilians and provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza, Austin said the U.S. is committed to “deterring any state or non-state actor who seeks to escalate this conflict,” a clear reference to Iran and Hezbollah , the Iranian government. supported armed group.
There have been frequent low-level attacks on U.S. forces by Iranian-backed groups in Iraq and Syria, but the U.S. wanted to make clear that more widespread attacks would provoke a comprehensive response.
Austin said this month that the additional troops in the region are intended to “strengthen regional deterrence efforts, increase force protection for U.S. forces in the region and assist in the defense of Israel.”
“We will do everything and take all necessary measures to protect U.S. forces and our interests abroad,” said Brigadier General. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said Oct. 23: “Again, no one wants to see the conflict expand, and that is our primary goal, but we will also never hesitate to protect our forces.”
CNN’s Haley Britzky and Will Mullery contributed to this report.