Los Angeles-Class Submarines: Backbone of the US Navy’s Undersea Power

Summary and Key Points: The U.S. Navy’s Los Angeles-class submarines, built in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, remain essential to the fleet today. Designed for Carrier Battle Group protection and anti-submarine warfare against Soviet threats, these subs can fire Mk 48 torpedoes, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and Harpoon missiles.

Los Angeles-Class Submarine USS Dallas

-Despite their age, Los Angeles-class submarines account for a significant portion of the Navy’s current submarine force.

-However, as they reach the end of their service life, the Navy faces a potential submarine deficit. Efforts are underway to accelerate the production of Virginia-class submarines, ensuring continued undersea dominance as the new Columbia-class ballistic missile subs also enter service.

Meet the Los Angeles-Class Submarine

U.S. Navy Los Angeles-class submarines were built in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, yet remain critical to the services’ fleet today and remain in service to a larger extent than any other class as of today.

Although the Los Angeles boats will progressively and quickly retire in coming years, they form a key foundation of the Navy’s undersea power force and contain a handful of impactful technologies designed to counter Soviet subs in the Cold War.

Why the Los Angeles-Class Matters

The primary intent or mission for the Los Angeles-class boats, an interesting essay from the Federation of American Scientists describes, is to conduct Carrier Battle Group protection and conduct anti-submarine warfare operations against what was called the Soviet Surface Action Group.

Upgraded Los Angeles submarines, for instance, could fire Mk 48 heavyweight torpedoes, ADCAP Torpedoes, Tomahawk cruise missiles, and Harpoon Anti-Ship Missiles.

“The new submarines showed another step improvement in quieting and an increase in operating speed to allow them to support the CVBG(Carrier Battle Group). Escort duties included conducting ASW sweeps hundreds of miles ahead of the CVBG and conducting attacks against the SAG,” the FAS report explains.

An ability to protect Carrier Battle Groups from several miles ahead undersea seems to be an extremely significant perimeter protection tactic, as it might be positioned to find and even destroy threats to surface ships at safer distances.

Old, But Powerful Submarines

Los Angeles-class submarines now account for a large portion of the Navy’s current submarine fleet, yet they will be reaching the end of their service life as Virginia-class boats arrive.

Actually, the Navy and Congressional decision-makers have long expressed concern about a coming Navy submarine deficit in which the fleet size for attack submarines, according to service commanders, will drop low enough to massively increase the threat to the U.S.

101210-N-5538K-056 PHILIPPINE SEA (Dec. 10, 2010) The Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Houston (SSN 713) takes part in a photo exercise as part of Keen Sword 2011. Keen Sword is a joint, bilateral exercise designed to strengthen Japan-U.S. military operations. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Casey H. Kyhl)

The U.S. Navy’s 30-Year Shipbuilding Plan has now for many years detailed a concerning attack submarine deficit given that Los Angeles submarines will retire faster than new Virginias can be added.

For this reason, Congress and the Navy have been deeply immersed in a longstanding effort to “flex” the industrial base to “uptick” the number of Virginia-class boats being built each year from 1 to as many as 3, depending upon budget.

For example, the Navy’s 2024 Shipbuilding plan does call for the production of two Virginia-class submarines per year from 2024 to 2028. This budget request has been based upon extensive industrial base capacity studies, which have determined that Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries can “flex” to accommodate a higher production op-tempo.

This means that even as production massively revs up for the new Columbia-class, nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarines in coming years, the Navy and its industry partners will still produce two Virginias per year. This is quite significant, should there be continued Congressional support, as the first Columbia-class boat is slated to arrive by the end of this decade for its first patrol in the early 2030s.

About the Author: Kris Osborn

Kris Osborn is the President of Warrior Maven – Center for Military Modernization. Osborn previously served at the Pentagon as a Highly Qualified Expert with the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Army—Acquisition, Logistics & Technology. Osborn has also worked as an anchor and on-air military specialist at national TV networks. He has appeared as a guest military expert on Fox News, MSNBC, The Military Channel, and The History Channel. He also has a Masters Degree in Comparative Literature from Columbia University.

All images are Creative Commons.