Ice, Ice, Navy

• US Navy builds Camp Queenfish on floating ice for exercise to evaluate operational capabilities in the Arctic region.
• Might the frozen tundra of the Arctic Circle one day become a conflict zone? 

Russia has been building out infrastructure, modernizing ports, and expanding its fleet of icebreakers … and ramping up military presence in specially designed “Arctic Trefoils” bases to back its claims over the Northern Sea Route. 

As part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, China is investing in the Arctic – setting up research stations, investing in mining and energy, and working with Russia to create a new sea route through the Arctic Ocean.

The Arctic is experiencing a trend of diminishing sea ice extent and thickness creating the likelihood of trans-oceanic shipping and resource extraction.

“The Arctic region (is) changing and becoming more active with maritime activity,” said Rear Adm. Richard Seif, commander of the Navy’s Undersea Warfighting Development Center in Groton, Connecticut.

For the next three weeks, ICEX 2022 will assess the Navy’s operational readiness in the Arctic, increase experience in the region, advance understanding of the Arctic environment, and continue to develop relationships with other services, allies, and partner organizations “who share the US’s goal of a free and peaceful Arctic,” Seif noted.

A temporary ice camp – built in five days – was established on a 3.5-mile-long sheet of floating ice more than 160 nautical miles offshore in the Beaufort Sea to support testing submarine systems and other arctic research initiatives. Named Ice Camp Queenfish, it will serve as a temporary command center for conducting operations and research in the region. The camp is equipped with sleeping quarters, a cafeteria, internet and a 2,500-foot-long runway supporting daily flights. 

The camp gets its name from USS Queenfish (SSN 651), the first Sturgeon-class submarine to operate under ice and the fourth submarine to reach the North Pole when it surfaced there on 6 August 1970.

“At Ice Camp Queenfish, our teams can test equipment in a very harsh and demanding environment,” said Howard Reese, director of the Arctic Submarine Laboratory, the lead organization for coordinating, planning and executing the exercise involving representatives from four nations and more than 200 participants over the five weeks of operations. “It’s important that all the technology we’re testing can perform in all of the oceans of the world, including the Arctic.”

In addition to US Navy, Army, Air Force, Marine Corps and Coast Guard personnel, the Royal Canadian Air Force, Royal Canadian Navy and United Kingdom Royal Navy are participating.

Participants are also stationed in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and are operating two submarines, the USS Pasadena and the USS Illinois.

USMC Capt. Dave Swensen, leading a team from the Marine Corps Mountain Warfare Center, said, “Any opportunities we can get to provide our personnel access to experience in extreme cold conditions will be force multipliers to our institution and ultimately to the Marine Corps.” 

Submarines have conducted under-ice operations in the Arctic regions for more than 60 years. USS Nautilus (SSN 571) made the first transit in 1958. USS Skate (SSN 578) was the first US submarine to surface through arctic ice at the North Pole in March 1959.

ICEX 2022 is the 98^th ice exercise for the US Submarine Force, but the first since 2020.

The exercise shortly before Norway is set to hold its largest multinational Arctic exercises since the end of the Cold War. Various NATO countries, including the US, will take part.