Pump up anti-sub warfare, Admiral says.

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 electrics.

A promising tool in littoral operations, Doran said, is the high-speed vessel, an Australian-built class of wave-piercing catamarans, with a speed in excess of 40 knots.

Doran said he recently visited the shipyard where Incat Tasmania builds such ships, and came away "very impressed" with the HSVs. One must actually go aboard one, he said, to appreciate how big and adaptable they are. The Navy could develop a niche role for HSVs in missions such as inserting troops, logistics support, and command and control, Doran said.