MARSOC Submarine Infiltrations

Recent drills involving US Navy submarines and Marine Corps special operators in the Pacific and the Mediterranean highlight an overlooked insertion and exfiltration method that would be relevant in a conflict with China. In early 2021, Force Recon Marines conducted a rare training with USS Ohio near Okinawa, and earlier this year US Marines trained with USS Georgia in the Mediterranean "to synchronize" Navy and Marine Corps operations.

Although submarine operations are mostly associated with Navy SEALs or US Army Green Beret combat divers, Marine special operators have a long history of submarine operations — Marine Raiders were the first US military unit to conduct a submarine-borne raid, attacking Makin Island in the Pacific in August 1942.

Submarine operations

The main benefit of using submarines for exfiltration and infiltration of special-operations forces is the difficulty of detecting them. Getting to the fight on a submarine is considerably more discreet than arriving on an MH-60 Black Hawk helicopter or jumping from an MC-130 Combat Talon airplane. If the infiltration and exfiltration are performed properly, the adversary may never know that US commandos and the sub carrying them were there.

Submarine operations allow "Recon Marines and Raiders to infiltrate undetected and conduct reconnaissance or raid missions with low probability of compromise," said retired Marine Raider Maj. Fred Galvin. This allows those operators to carry out missions of a "strategic nature" but it also "affects the enemy's psychology in that they cannot easily defend against it and in order to defend against it they must commit massive personnel and material resources," added Galvin, who began his career in the Marine Reconnaissance community.

In the vastness of the Pacific, submarine operations could be very important in a conflict with China, allowing Marine special operators to conduct offensive and defensive operations.