Notes to the New CNO Series

By Andrew Pfau and Bridger Smith

Shore-based team trainers – attack centers – are critical for submarine crews preparing for deployment to exercise the full range of tactical skills in a challenging training environment. These trainers focus on modeling complex ocean environments, sensors, and warships, resulting in a high-cost trainer with only two to three attack centers at each shore facility. The limited number of trainers coupled with high demand means that submarine crews in shipyard availabilities are low priority for these trainers, often going weeks between opportunities to use them. If the Navy wants a more lethal submarine force, it requires more low-cost training options for Pre-Commissioning Units and those in long shipyard overhaul.

Only one submarine schoolhouse, in Pearl Harbor, is co-located on the same base as a shipyard. The Navy’s other public and private shipyards require sailors to travel to and from the schoolhouse, creating a time and financial burden on sailors. When attack centers are unavailable, shipyard units resort to studying manuals or discussing scenarios with whiteboard diagrams. These are clearly less than ideal training conditions, especially when shipyard sailors are considered the reserve surge force for deploying submarines.

A lower-fidelity, modular trainer, operated by one sailor in a classroom would provide a low-cost, high-density training asset for the submarine force. This “attack center in a box” would run on basic laptops, linking together four to five tactical watchstanders in the same training environment, utilizing off-the-shelf technology. It would not replace shore trainers but augment the higher-fidelity training they provide. Sailors could increase training “reps and sets,” execute a more consistent and higher density training schedule, and reduce qualification time. When watchteams train in the attack center, there would be greater training value with less time spent on basic skills and more time on the complex problems the higher-fidelity trainer provides.

Tabletop wargames also provide submariners with an opportunity to hone tactical decision-making skills at a low financial and readiness cost. Watchteams could wargame tactical decisions, exploring alternative paths and various tactical scenarios. The opportunity to pilot and test new technologies and tactics in low-risk environments would provide valuable user-centric feedback and would shift risk to the left of the more high-demand trainers. Wardrooms would be introduced to the principles of wargaming and practice integrating with surface and air units for theater anti-submarine warfare. A simple, flexible, wargame that uses knowledge sailors already possess and can be learned quickly provides countless repeatable training opportunities.

As shipyard availability delays continue to challenge the submarine force, sailors assigned to the these units require better and more consistent training tools. Sailors must be ready to support at-sea operations and units must quickly transition to a combat-ready state after shipyard periods. Low-cost, high-density training tools like wargames and an “attack center in a box” can provide opportunities for sailors to build and maintain perishable at-sea skills, leading to a more ready and lethal force.

Andrew Pfau is a submarine officer currently assigned as the Navigator aboard USS COLORADO (SSN 788) undergoing a CNO availability at Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School.

Bridger Smith is a submarine officer currently assigned to the INSURV Board of Inspection and Survey. He was Navigator aboard USS COLUMBUS (SSN 762) undergoing a CNO availability at Huntington Ingles Industry Shipyard in Newport News, VA. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and the Naval Postgraduate School.

These opinions are expressed in a personal capacity and are not intended to reflect official views or policies of the Department of the Navy or the U.S. government.

Featured Image: Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine USS Nevada (SSBN 733) docked in Naval Base Kitsap’s Delta Pier’s dry dock, Dec. 28, 2023. (U.S. Navy Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Adora Okafor)