"Denmark just opened up Faroe Islands for our ability to conduct brief stops for personnel, which is absolutely a key position for us," Houston added. "Tromsø gives us a place where we can pull in submarines, fix material things, do personnel exchanges," Houston said at the April 3 event. The visits reflect increasing defense cooperation between Norway and its NATO allies. Royal Navy submarine HMS Ambush in Grøtsund harbor in April 2022. In August 2020, the Navy said USS Seawolf, a West Coast-based attack sub, made "a brief stop for personnel in the vicinity of Tromso." That was followed by visits by USS New Mexico in May 2021 and USS Washington, USS Albany, USS South Dakota, HMS Ambush, and USS Newport News - all attack subs - in 2022. Since 2020, when Norway allowed NATO subs to use a port near Tromsø, announcements of such visits appear to have increased. "There was a time when we sort of backed off on that because the Russian threat" was diminished and there were higher priorities elsewhere, but the Navy "has been increasing the number of deployments they've been doing with submarines up to the high north," Bryan Clark, a former US Navy submarine officer, told Insider.Ī Norwegian navy officer said in January 2018 that allied submarines were entering Norwegian waters or ports for supplies or personnel exchanges three to four times a month. The US Navy focused less on submarine activity in the high north after the Cold War, but its attention has increased over the past decade, as shown in its sub operations and its anti-submarine-warfare exercises. USS New Mexico in Grøtsund harbor, near Tromsø in Norway, on May 10, 2021. "So it gives us an incredible opportunity and an incredible strategic position to do that." We keep a very close eye on that, and our NATO partners and allies are absolutely critical to that," Houston said at the Sea Air Space Symposium outside of Washington DC on April 3.įor subs in the North Atlantic, access to those ports means "we can exchange people off those submarines in hours when typically it would take us days to pull into Faslane," Houston added, referring to a base in Scotland. "We have increased activity in the Atlantic. William Houston, the commander of US submarine forces. Since late 2020, the Navy has announced multiple visits by its submarines to Tromsø in northern Norway, the Danish-controlled Faroe Islands, and Iceland - locations that reduce the time those subs have to spend away from their operating areas, according to Vice Adm. The US Navy rarely reveals where its submarines are, but it is making those subs more visible in the North Atlantic, demonstrating their presence as US officials warn that Russian submarines are more active and carrying new weapons closer to US shores. "We should not make the mistake of underestimating Russia's military capabilities, because the stakes of getting it wrong are too high.Account icon An icon in the shape of a person's head and shoulders. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., during Wednesday's hearing. "Russia still retains strategic capabilities: an air force, cyber, and underwater," Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Rep. There has been a narrative the Russian military is depleted with the war in Ukraine grinding down its forces, but Cavoli warned against that talk, noting Russia remains the primary threat to the U.S. "These are two countries with very advanced capabilities, so I think it is going to a force multiplier." "It's a team sport in terms of all of our allies working together to sort of, hopefully, manage that, and keep it under control," Courtney said in response to Cavoli's warnings. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., the chair of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Seapower and Projection Forces. And this will give us a huge additional capability to control all three domains, classical domains, in the high north." "The Swedish navy is very active, very confident, and very powerful in the Baltic Sea area. "The future, we hope, accession of Sweden brings much of the same. "The accession of Finland is very strong," Cavoli said. "And their patrols into the Atlantic and throughout the Atlantic are at a high level most of the time, at a higher level than we've seen in years - and this is despite all the efforts they're undertaking inside Ukraine."Ĭavoli noted the addition of Finland into NATO "brings a very competent navy" and "a large and growing air force." military posture and national security challenges in Europe. European commander, told the House Armed Services Committee, testifying on the U.S. "The Russians have been more active than we've seen them in years," Army Gen. Russian submarine activity has increased in the Atlantic - potentially reaching Cold War levels - and has U.S.
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