Why U.S. Navy Submarines May Already Be Hunting for Missing Flight 370

BY DAN LAMOTHE-APRIL 1, 2014 

The British Navy just sent a nuclear-powered submarine to the South Indian Ocean to help search for the Malaysian airliner that has been missing since March. The United States has not announced any similar decisions, but analysts caution that the U.S. Navy prides itself on keeping the movement of its submarines silent, and may already be in the hunt.

"The value of a submarine is in its stealth and its ability to stay hidden," said Eric Wertheim, an analyst with the United States Naval Institute in Annapolis, Md. "It could very well be doing it. But countries don't typically announce their submarines' locations."

Like the British submarine, the U.S. sub fleet could assist in scanning the ocean for remains of the airliner. The depths to which they can go are classified, but is generally believed to be a few thousand feet underwater, Wertheim said. However, a sub's sonar could detect wreckage much deeper. Information gathered could be used as part of the larger search, with unmanned robots recovering the plane's remains once it is found. They have been used repeatedly to salvage both military and commercial aircraft.

Adm. Samuel Locklear, the top U.S. commander in the Pacific, declined on Friday in an interview with Foreign Policy to say whether he would recommend sending any additional U.S. equipment to help in the search. U.S. military involvement in the days after the plane first disappeared was appropriate, he said, citing the involvement of other nations and the uncertainty over what would help.

"I personally had dialogue with both the minister of defense and the chief of defense of Malaysia to make sure we were giving them the right support," Locklear told FP. "But, this has turned out to be the largest search-and-rescue and search-and-recovery effort probably in the history of mankind. It has been a hard thing, because the circumstances behind it were not clear from the beginning."

Thus far, the Pentagon has sent a P-3 and P-8 surveillance aircraft, a single unmanned Bluefin-21 submarine, and a "pinger locator" designed to find the data flight recorder and cockpit voice recorder on board planes. The USS Kidd and USS Pinckney, two destroyers, also have assisted, with helicopters searching from their flight decks. Navy officials declined to comment whether any U.S. submarines were involved in the hunt for the missing airliner, citing the force's need to be a "silent service."

The British submarine, the HMS Tireless, already has arrived in the southern Indian Ocean, British officials said Tuesday. Aviation experts and the Malaysian government say the airliner is doomed, and likely deep underwater in an ocean well known for its treacherous conditions. The 280-foot-long submarine is equipped with sonar that will allow it to scan for wreckage from the massive Boeing 777, which had 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board when it diverted from its planned flight path from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to Beijing, China. All on board are believed to be dead.

The Tireless is part of Britain's Trafalgar class of submarines, which were designed to hunt enemy submarines during the Cold War. They have been adapted for 21st-century use, including covert surveillance of enemy forces and reconnaissance of military installations and beaches that are on shore, British officials said. It carries about 18 officers and more than 100 crew members.

Lt. Rebecca Rebarich/ U.S. Navy