Boomer converted for fighting terrorist and rogue states

Michael Hedges, Houston Chronicle:

ABOARD THE USS FLORIDA - As sailors clad in dark blue coveralls scrambled to their battle stations during a recent emergency dive drill, the men in green camouflage stood out among their crew mates.

They were Navy SEALs, dressed for jungle warfare. They have been trained to go ashore from this submarine and conduct clandestine missions in enemy territory. The SEALs are an integral part of the crew, as shown by the space devoted to their battle center, one of the roomier facilities on a ship where nine men sleep in rooms little bigger than a walk-in closet.

"SOF (Special Operations Forces) was not an afterthought on this boat; it was part of the design," Cmdr. Claude Lim, a SEAL, said of the battle management center, which bristled with enhanced antennae, communications gear and other high-tech equipment. "It makes everything we do easier."

The operation of Special Forces troops from the USS Florida is a critical reason why the 24-year-old vessel was recommissioned May 25 instead of being scrapped as originally planned.

The USS Florida and three sister ships were designed as platforms for Cold War Trident nuclear missiles.

But now the Florida will be used to launch up to 154 conventional Tomahawk missiles at targets such as a terrorist bunker or an enemy headquarters building in an enemy city. And the sub will operate with dozens of SEALs, whom it can help sneak ashore for reconnaissance and sabotage missions.

"We can bring up to 66 (SEALs) on one boat. That is something you can't do on fast attack (submarines). It is going to let us put a lot of guys on the beach faster," Lim said during a recent cruise, on which a Chronicle reporter rode, beneath the Atlantic off Florida.

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There is more on the transformation effort including a word from the critics. I think it sounds like a neat idea.