US sends clear message with vague nuclear-capable sub announcement

While the US’s deployment of a nuclear-capable Ohio-class submarine into the region is news, many analysts are noting the importance of the fact that the US announced where the sub is.

US acknowledgment of an Ohio-class submarine location is incredibly rare as they represent part of America’s so-called “nuclear triad” of atomic weapons — which also includes land-based ballistic missiles and nuclear bombs aboard strategic bombers.

The US announcement provided no other details in its online statement Sunday, though it posted an image that appeared to show a submarine in Egypt’s Suez Canal near its Suez Canal Bridge.

While Ohio-class submarines are nuclear powered and many carry nuclear arms, others carry only cruise missiles and are meant to deploy with special operations forces, leaving it vague as to whether the submarine operating now in the Mideast carries nuclear ballistic missiles.

Central Command separately released an image of a nuclear-capable B-1 bomber also operating in the Mideast on Sunday.

The last time the US disclosed it had a nuclear-powered sub in the region was a year ago, when Central Command head Gen. Michael Kurilla publicly inspected the USS West Virginia, which was at an undisclosed location at sea, CNN reports.