The Los Angeles-class submarines USS Santa Fe and USS Cheyenne returned to Pearl Harbor this week from deployments that, more than ever, sailors are not allowed to talk about but also, more than ever, are key to the Navy’s advantage over China.
The Santa Fe returned Monday, while the Cheyenne and its crew of about 130 pulled up to the pier and several hundred ecstatic family members Friday at around 2:15 p.m.
Kristin Kennedy was there with 1-year-old daughter Alana, waiting for husband Zack Kennedy, a machinist’s mate on the Cheyenne, with a sign referring to her toddler that said, “I learned to walk so I could run into Daddy’s arms.”
Kristin Kennedy said she was “very, very glad to have him home” with the family again.
The Santa Fe was in Australia in February for anti-submarine warfare training with four Royal Australian Navy Collins-class submarines.
The Cheyenne participated in Exercise Keen Sword, which began Oct. 29 and was the latest in a series of field training exercises that for more than 30 years have increased combat readiness and interoperability between the U.S. military and Japan’s Self-Defense Force.
Cheyenne was the last of the Los Angeles-class attack submarines commissioned, but even though it’s the youngest of the class, it’s still 23 years old.
The retirement of Los Angeles subs and lack of one-for-one replacement with newer Virginia-class vessels means that the sub force is shrinking, with today’s 51 attack submarines expected to drop to 42 by 2026.
Adm. Phil Davidson, head of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command on Oahu, told members of Congress on March 27 that just “slightly over 50 percent” of his day-to-day submarine requirements are met now.
“The undersea domain, despite the capacity shortfalls (in) the number of submarines, is an area in which we hold an asymmetric advantage over all our adversaries,” Davidson said. “It is a critical advantage that we need to extend.”
The submarine shortage is a “threat” to the day-to-day operations that the United States needs to conduct in theater to project presence, and risks warfare preparation “to a certain extent,” Davidson said.
Beyond submarines, Davidson told Congress that aircraft carrier strike group availability is below what he’s requested, while amphibious groups are “slightly below” what he needs.
During Keen Sword approximately 10,000 U.S. service members conducted training with Japanese counterparts. Cheyenne crew member Lt. j.g. Andrew Swartz, 25, said the exercise involved hunting ships and simulating firing torpedoes and being hunted by other vessels.
Swartz, who was on his first submarine deployment, said it was “very eye-opening. I got to see a lot about how we operate when we’re working jointly with another navy.”
During the exercise, “sometimes it’s very stressful and everyone’s amped up, ready to go,” he said. “Other times, honestly, you are waiting to find something, and so it can be the entire end of the spectrum in terms of stress. Some days it’s more exciting than others.”
Navy officials said they were precluded from talking about how long the Santa Fe and Cheyenne deployments were — a departure from the past.
Marian Orr, mayor of Cheyenne, Wyo., was on the hull of her city’s namesake submarine with some of the crew as it pulled to the pier. Officials said Orr went aboard the sub near Pearl Harbor.
“To have a submarine named after your hometown, the USS Cheyenne — we love it,” Orr said after getting off the vessel. “I just have a lot of love for this particular crew. I had an opportunity to meet them. (Some crew members) come back for Cheyenne Frontier Days every year. It’s a great relationship that we have.”
