Saturday, Murphy will travel to Deadhorse, Alaska and head to Ice Camp SARGO, a temporary station that floats atop an ice sheet in the Arctic.
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While most of the nation’s security concerns are focused on the Middle East and the growing threat of the Islamic State, Murphy said a robust submarine program in the Arctic is critical to protect shipping lanes there. Murphy, like the rest of the crew, slept in a cotin very tight quarters.
“It is not clear how tethered to reality [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is, and it should make us nervous that some of their submarines are dangerously close to USA allies”, Murphy said.
This footage with multiple points of view of the Los Angeles Class fast attack nuclear submarine USS Hartford breaking through the ice in the arctic circle.is unbelievably awesome.
“These Los Angeles class submarines just can’t stay out in the water for longer than their intended life”, Murphy said. The current rate is two per year.
It was part of the Navy’s annual Ice Exercise (ICEX 2016). The U.S. Navy says that since those events, the U.S. Submarine Force has completed more than 26 Arctic exercises in total.
Murphy, a Democrat, is a member of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans affairs.
“Navigating, communicating and maneuvering are all different in an arctic environment as there are surfaces both above and below a submarine”, said Cmdr.
“You want to keep them around so they have a chance to ultimately become leadership on these boats”, he said, also plugging the need for funding support systems around their families, too. The crew has adopted the Hartford Double-A minor league baseball team, the Yard Goats.
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On USS Hartford, the crew and their guests had pizza for dinner and the weekly Saturday night movie.
