If you thought aircraft carriers were invincible you were wrong.
On Mar. 4, the French Ministry of Defense released some interesting details, about the activity conducted by one of its nuclear-powered attack submarine (SNA) in the waters of the North Atlantic Ocean.
According to French MoD website (that is no longer online, even if you can still find a cached version of the article titled “Le SNA Saphir en entraînement avec l’US Navy au large de la Floride”), the Saphir submarine has recently taken part in a major exercise with the U.S. Navy off Florida.
The aim of the exercise was joint training with U.S. Carrier Strike Group 12 made by the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt, several Ticonderoga cruisers or Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and a Los Angeles-class submarine, ahead of their operational deployment.
The scenario of the drills saw some imaginary states assaulting American economic and territorial interests; threats faced by a naval force led by USS Theodore Roosevelt.
During the first phase of the exercise, the Saphir was integrated into the friendly force to support anti-submarine warfare (ASW) by cooperating with U.S. P-3C Orion P-8A Poseidon MPA (Maritime Patrol Aircraft): its role was to share all the underwater contacts with the other ASW assets.
In the second phase of the exercise, the Saphir was integrated with the enemy forces and its mission was to locate the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and its accompanying warships and prepare to attack the strike group.
While the fictious political situation deteriorated, the Saphir quietly slipped in the heart of the multi-billion-dollar aircraft carrier’s defensive screen, while avoiding detection by ASW assets.
On the morning of the last day, the order to attack was finally given, allowing the Saphir to pretend-sinking the USS Theodore Roosevelt and most of its escort.
Although we don’t really know many more details about the attack and its outcome, the scripted exercise its RoE (Rules of Engagement), the simulated sinking of a U.S. supercarrier proves the flattop’s underwater defenses are not impenetrable.
This is the reason why modern subs often train with aircraft carriers: they pose a significant threat to powerful Carrier Strike Groups.
Obviously, this was not the first time a submarine scored a simulated carrier kill with torpedo attacks.
For instance, in 2007 HMCS Corner Brook, a Canadian diesel-electric submarine “sunk” UK’s Illustrious during an exercise in the Atlantic.
Image credit: U.S. Navy
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Swedish Subs as well. The Gotland snapped a few pics of the Reagan.
Good Job, Saphir :)
While I will not try to minimize how lethal a good sub with a good commander can be, there is a very large divide between being able to sink a carrier and “most of its escort” during an exercise without actually firing anything, and doing the same thing during an actual battle with live weapons.
do you have anymore details on this? how is it deployed, range, etc?
Only the open source information. Several shots per system (think SEARam), several sensors per hull, and it’s violently agile. That last part is very important. Apparently this thing can out maneuver anything under the water. I’m assuming it’s a combination acoustically and magnetically influenced fuze. Doesn’t need to be a direct hit, just needs to pass near at the time of detonation. At that point it’ll break the torpedo if not cause a sympathetic detonation.
Did any of you experts notice the term “scripted exercise” near the end of the article. You don’t know the parameters of this exercise, or how realistic it was in a real world environment. The parameters were probably such that the French submarine was given a chance to “sink” the Aircraft Carrier for TRAINING reasons. Usually American submarines, Aircraft Carriers, and aircraft are put in a situation where they would never be, in a real-world environment, and then there’s a leak that the French/Dutch/Swedes “sunk” an American Aircraft Carrier, which a disservice to realism and the American Navy. In a real world environment, the Frogs would probably never have even found the Carrier in the first palce. LOL