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News | Oct. 7, 2016

USS Tennessee arrives in Scotland for port visit

U.S. Strategic Command Public Affairs

OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Nebraska – This morning the ballistic missile submarine USS Tennessee (SSBN 734) arrived at Her Majesty’s Naval Base Clyde, Faslane, Scotland, for a regularly scheduled port visit.

The U.S. routinely and visibly demonstrates commitment to allies through forward presence and operations of strategic forces. This visit follows the visit of USS Wyoming to Faslane in September 2015, and highlights the close relationship shared by the United States and United Kingdom to support global security objectives with highly trained, interoperable strategic forces.

“The Navy’s nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarines support our nation’s ability to maintain a strong, credible strategic force and enhance and provide for the security and stability of our regional allies,” said Adm. Cecil D. Haney, U.S. Strategic Command commander. “This visit highlights our special relationship with the U.K., and complements the many exercises, training, operations, and other military cooperation activities conducted between our two nations. Further, it provides a well-deserved respite for the USS Tennessee crew, who work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, deterring strategic threats to our collective security.”

To deter a broad range of threats, the U.S. requires a robust Triad of strategic forces and forward deployed non-strategic nuclear forces. SSBNs, which patrol continuously, provide a critical, stabilizing and highly effective element of the U.S. nuclear deterrence force. The U.S. and U.K. have a long-standing agreement of cooperation in the development and deployment of strategic weapons and supporting systems. U.K. SSBNs deploy the same TRIDENT II D5 submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) as U.S. SSBNs, and the Strategic Weapons Facility Atlantic at Kings Bay, Georgia, frequently provides missile logistics support to U.K. SSBNs.