The USS Warner under construction in Newport News, one of the last two shipyards in the US able to build a nuclear-powered submarine.
Breaking Defense: Marines Need Submarines: Commandant Neller On Major War
SAN DIEGO: Why does the Marine Corps Commandant want the Navy to build more attack boats? “As a naval force, part of a maritime campaign, we need more attack submarines,” Gen. Robert Neller said at the AFCEA-USNI WEST conference.
Why? “I want to get where I’m going,” Neller said to laughter from the audience. “A bunch of lance corporals with M4s on the flight deck are not going to help me out.” In other words, if the amphibious warships carrying the Marines are to make it to striking distance of a hostile shore without being sunk, they need an escort of Navy submarines and aircraft — and (though Neller didn’t mention this last one) probably also Aegis ships for anti-aircraft and missile defense.
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WNU Editor: In a way Gen. Robert Neller is making sense ....
.... “When was the last time we had to fight to get to the fight? We just went,” Neller mused. Today, though, “we’re going to have to fight to get there.”
WNU editor: This idea does kick it to a new level. In the past the Marines relied on naval gunfire to suppress enemy artillery during the landing phase. In today's world missile technology has pushed the enemy kill zone out several miles. And while using submarines to bring troops to a beach may solve some problems .... they are not cheap, and that is probably why they will not be built.
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