US reveals whereabouts of nuclear ballistic missile submarines in Arabian Sea

US Central Command has taken the highly unusual step of disclosing the presence of a U.S. Navy Ohio class nuclear ballistic missile submarine in the Arabian Sea.

The announcement was framed as a visit by the command's top officer, US Army General Michael Kurilla, to get a first-hand look at one of America's key capabilities operating in the region, according to The Drive.

US Navy Vice Adm. Brad Cooper, head of U.S. Fifth Fleet and Naval Forces Central Command (NAVCENT), joined Gen. Kurilla and members of his staff on their visit to USS West Virginia at an undisclosed location in the Arabian Sea, according to a press release Central Command (CENTCOM) put out on October 20.

"I was thoroughly impressed with the crew of the USS West Virginia; these sailors represent the highest level of professionalism, expertise, and discipline across the U.S. military,” Kurilla said in a statement. "These submarines are the crown jewel of the nuclear triad, and the West Virginia demonstrates the flexibility, survivability, readiness, and capability of USCENTCOM and USSTRATCOM [US Strategic Command] forces at sea."

Today the CENTCOM Commander embarked the USS West Virginia Ballistic Missile Submarine pic.twitter.com/fv98lYhD89

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) October 19, 2022

The U.S. Navy currently has 14 Ohio class ballistic missile submarines, or SSBNs, in service. The Ohio SSBNs were originally designed to carry up to 24 Trident nuclear-armed submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM), but this maximum loadout has since been reduced to 20 as part of arms control agreements with Russia. The current Trident D5 missile is a multiple independently targetable reentry vehicle, or MIRV, design and each one can be loaded with up to 14 nuclear warheads.

There are four more Ohio class boats in Navy service that had been converted into guided missile submarines, or SSGNs. Though best known for their ability to carry a maximum load of 154 Tomahawk land-attack cruise missiles, the Ohio SSGNs are actually multi-purpose vessels that can deploy various uncrewed systems, serve as motherships for special operations forces, and act as underwater intelligence fusion centres and command posts, as you can read more about in this past War Zone feature.

Beyond that, even though CENTCOM has not disclosed exactly where within the Arabian Sea USS West Virginia was sailing when Kurilla arrived, it had to surface to receive him and the rest of the delegation, presenting inherent risks and intelligence-gathering vulnerabilities.

With all this in mind, Kurilla's tour of the West Virginia definitely has significantly different undertones than his other publicly announced visits to Bahrain and Oman this week. The announcement that the CENTCOM commander had travelled out to this submarine certainly comes at a time of various points of tension between the United States and countries in the Middle East, especially Iran.

In recent weeks, Iran has more actively injected itself into the conflict in Ukraine on the side of Russia through the delivery of uncrewed, including so-called "suicide drones." Iranian officials have also reportedly told Reuters now that the country is planning to sell hundreds of short-range ballistic missiles to the Russians, just as we had predicted prior to that report.

The U.S. government has other countries in the region it might want to signal its strength and presence to, as well. This includes Saudi Arabia, an ostensible partner of America's, but which recently helped push a decision by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) oil cartel to cut production, which will drive up the prices.

There is also a possibility that West Virginia's specific presence in the Arabian Sea may not be as important as simply signalling that it's out there at all. While there is a very active debate about whether or not Russian President Vladimir Putin might actually resort to using nuclear weapons to try to change the current course of the conflict in Ukraine, there have definitely been growing fears about this possibility in recent weeks. Putin's own comments in this regard have not helped ease these concerns.

There is no shortage of others sources of geo-political friction around the world that West Virginia's unusual appearance in the Arabian Sea could be related to, as well. The U.S. military continues to view China as its main 'pacing threat' and is now regularly voicing concerns about the possibility of the People's Liberation Army launching a military intervention against Taiwan before the decade's end. There are also growing fears that a series of provocative North Korean missile launches and other worrisome military activity on that country's part may be building up to a new nuclear weapons test.

Whatever the exact message or messages CENTCOM's announcement about USS West Virginia might be intended to convey, it remains to be seen how it will be interpreted.

No matter what, the U.S. military's very public declaration of the presence of one of America's most devastating strike platforms in the Arabian Sea is highly unusual and makes clear that this leg of the nuclear triad is out there and ready should it ever be needed.