A United States nuclear-powered submarine capable of launching more than a hundred missiles was deployed in the South China Sea during a visit to an allied nation.
The arrival of the U.S. Navy guided-missile submarine USS Ohio in the Philippines comes amid ongoing territorial and maritime disputes between the Southeast Asian country and China, which claims most of the waters in the contested South China Sea.
As part of its efforts to contain China’s growing military threat, the U.S. maintains a strong presence of nuclear-powered submarines in the western Pacific, especially across three north-south defensive island chains—formed by the territories of the U.S. and its allies and partners, including the Philippines, which is part of the First Island Chain.
The presence of the Ohio—designed to launch up to 154 Tomahawk cruise missiles—follows China’s deployment of its most advanced aircraft carrier, CNS Fujian, in the South China Sea for testing and training. Satellite imagery captured on Tuesday shows the aircraft carrier remained off the southeastern coast of China’s Hainan Province.
Citing open-source ship-tracking data, @MT_Anderson, an open-source intelligence analyst on the social media platform X, said the Ohio arrived at Subic Bay on the west coast of the Philippines’ Luzon Island, bordering the South China Sea, on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the Submarine Group Seven, a U.S. Navy command responsible for submarine activities throughout the western Pacific, confirmed to Newsweek in an emailed statement that the Ohio was pierside at Subic Bay for a scheduled port visit.
The submarine, homeported in the state of Washington, is conducting routine operations in the U.S. Seventh Fleet’s operating area—which covers the western Pacific and Indian Oceans—to help preserve a free and open Indo-Pacific, according to the statement.
Photos released by the U.S. Navy show the Ohio conducting a training exercise with the U.S. Marine Corps in the Philippine Sea, east of the Philippines, on September 3.
The exercise aimed to provide what the U.S. Navy called “flexible, forward-postured and quick-response options” to combatant commanders, according to a photo caption.
Prior to its deployment around the Philippines, the Ohio surfaced in Guam—part of the Second Island Chain—in late April and in Brisbane, Australia, in late July. Australia is a key ally in the South Pacific that helps the U.S. sustain naval power on the front line.
“American submarine capability remains, in my view, the primary threat vector for Chinese naval operations,” Alex Luck, a naval analyst in Australia, told Newsweek.
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy has made significant efforts in ship- and air-borne anti-submarine warfare, including land-based maritime patrol aircraft and undersea surveillance, particularly within the First Island Chain, the analyst added.
The U.S. Navy said on its website: “Ohio-Class guided-missile submarines (SSGN) provide the Navy with unprecedented strike and special operation mission capabilities from a stealth, clandestine platform. Armed with tactical missiles and equipped with superior communications capabilities, SSGNs are capable of directly supporting Combatant Commander’s strike and Special Operation Forces (SOF) requirements.”
It remains to be seen whether the Ohio will conduct any exercises with the Philippine military in the South China Sea, signaling the U.S. security commitment to the ally.
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