US Navy to convert USS Baltimore submarine for seabed warfare

The US Navy is converting the Virginia-class submarine USS Baltimore into an "elite seabed warfare" platform to protect undersea cables and pipelines. Completion is expected by 2036, with the SSW program backed by Congress and submarine command.

• USS Baltimore, a Virginia-class sub, will become a seabed warfare platform by 2036
• More than 900,000 miles of fiber optic cable run along the ocean floor
• About 70% of cable damage is accidental, the rest is sabotage
• NATO and CSIS call undersea infrastructure the "soft underbelly" of the global economy