A US attack submarine which can carry 66 Navy SEAL commandos (or 154 Tomahawk missiles) has entered the Persian Gulf to keep things interesting for Iran. SEAL forces “can clandestinely leave the vessel through forward bow compartments.” How often do such maneuvers take place during wartime?
Googling I found a couple of examples from WWII and one from the Korean War. There have also been military exercises where commandos have practiced this. Are there other examples? Bonus question: what sort of mission would be given to American commandos in the current conflict?
I don’t know how often they’re actually deployed, but it’s definitely something the SEALs train for- there are even special operations submarines that are specifically outfitted to transport and deploy SEAL teams in hostile waters via all their cool mini subs and boats and stuff.
To me anyway, that’s a pretty convincing argument that they train for that sort of deployment regularly. The Congress and Navy would be unlikely to refit a submarine for special operations, unless it’s a capability that is trained for and used/intended to be used.
This is one way they deploy from submarines (I don’t know if there are other ways). There’s a section on operational history, which includes using these vehicles when not deployed from submarines, but that’s still mostly relevant.
Technically, not an attack submarine. An Ohio class guided missile submarine, USS Florida.
An SSGN conversion of a former strategic missile submarine. Part of the conversion process is converting two of the Trident missile launch tubes into special forces team space, plus the Dry Deck Shelter (the container on the deck), which is a “garage” for diver vehicles.
So, in addition to hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles (replacing the Trident ballistic missiles), the Ohio SSGN conversions were designed very specifically as special forces motherships.
Riemann provided an answer to the OP, albeit an indirect one.
There is a soon-to-be-replaced underwater contraption called the SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) which resembles an underwater bobsled. It has limited range and is launched out of submarine tubes. It’s also launched off of ships. The following events were conducted with an SDV probably launched from a submarine:
The SDV was used during the Bush the First’s Gulf War, “Where it performed mine reconnaissance and demolition”. During the Iraqi invasion, SEAL teams surveilled and seized various offshore oil terminals. The SDV also enabled SEALs to install remote cameras along the Somali coastline.
Launching an SDV from a ship involves cranes, which is why its probable that the above missions were conducted off of a submarine.
Other examples include is Operation Thunderhead, conducted in 1972 to rescue POWs off the coast of Vietnam and Operation Ivy Bells to place wiretaps on Soviet communications:
The SSGN (guided missile submarine) referenced in the OP is a former SSBN (Ballistic missile submarine) that had most of its missile tubes converted from holding large Trident missiles to holding sets of smaller Tomahawk missiles. I say most because one of the tubes was converted to be an airlock for deploying SEAL commandos. SSGNs like their SSBN counterparts are designed to be extremely stealthy and quiet, so they’re an ideal platform for this purpose. They can come in near shore, let loose a squad to perform some stealthy shit nearby, then collect them again without ever surfacing or being detected.
I would wager submarine deployment is one of the main ways seal teams are deployed from sea. The big limiting factor would be that we don’t have very many SSGNs and they’re relatively slow, especially compared to flying them in and dropping them via parachute. I’ve heard plenty of stories from sailors who served aboard SSGNs who would be going about their routine duties only to find a dozen or so SEALs show up in crew’s mess for a week or so and then disappear again, without the boat ever surfacing. When you work back in the engine room you’re not let in on that level of secret operations.
