US sub surfaced at North Pole

The brand new USS Texas is the first of the Virginia-class attack-submarines in the US Navy to conduct operations in the Arctic, reports navy.mil, the official website of the United States navy.

USS Texas was on its first voyage from the naval base in New London to its new homeport at Pearl Harbor, Hawai, when it sailed and surfaced in the Arctic.

The Globe and Mail writes that until now, conventional wisdom held that the Virginia-class submarine was not designed for use in Arctic waters. But now, with the surfacing of USS Texas at the North Pole it seems that the Americans have taken steps to modify the Virginia-class sub’s Arctic abilities.

The submarine and its 134-member crew stayed surfaced at the North Pole for 24 hours. According to the Ottawa Citizen, the USS Texas is the third U.S. submarine to sail the Arctic so far this year.

Earlier this year, Russia surprised the United States by launching an intercontinental missile from a Delta-class submarine breaking through the ice in the Arctic. The Russian Northern fleet has several submarines in the area at the time.

The increased Russian submarine activities in the Arctic come after near two decades of little Russian naval activity in the Arctic. As BarentsObserver reported earlier this year the number of submarine patrols falls all the way from the end of the 80ties down to 2002 and it was not a single patrol. In 2008, seven longer patrols were reported and it was said to be the same as in 2007, BarentsObserver wrote with reference to the Defence News.

In addition to longer patrols, shorter deployments of both strategic and multi-purpose submarines closer to homeport may also be taking place for training purposes.