Pump up anti-sub warfare, Admiral says.

• Author: Fein, Geoff S.
• Position: Washington Pulse

The Navy needs to rejuvenate its anti-submarine warfare capabilities, the commander of the Pacific Fleet, Adm. Walter F. Doran, told a recent gathering of defense writers, in Washington, D.C.

Doran said ASW was at the top of the list of topics that he came to discuss with the chief of naval operations, Adm. Vern Clark.

"Blue water ASW kind of went away with the demise of the old Soviet Union," Doran said. But "we have to adjust ourselves to a new world" of littoral warfare, he said. An increasing threat is being posed, especially in coastal waters, by "very capable, very quiet" diesel electric submarines deployed by countries such as North Korea, he added.

"ASW is both an art and a science," Doran said, and the Navy needs to invest more, both in technology and training, to counter the diesel...