U.S. Navy puts new emphasis on anti-submarine training; new threat from China seen

Two Navy destroyers and a cruiser dangle sonar devices into the ocean to listen for enemy submarines lurking 50 miles from Honolulu. Naval aviators in P-3 surveillance planes and helicopters drop sonar buoys into the sea to give the sailors more ears below the surface.

The submarines are not really enemy vessels at all, but U.S. subs participating in anti-submarine warfare training.

The exercises, held Jan. 9-12, are something Navy sailors will be doing more of in coming years. The Pacific Fleet has made training to track and destroy submarines its top combat priority amid concerns its sailors' skills have not kept up with the advanced diesel submarines China and other Pacific Rim countries have been buying.


"There is a real threat out there -- over 140 diesel submarines in the Pacific, and the technology on them is getting better every day," said Capt. David F. Steindl, who directed the ships and aircraft during the exercises. "We need to train constantly to be ready if we ever have to face that threat."

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