(Dan Tree) – A few days after the visit of the nuclear submarine USS Kentucky to South Korea, another US nuclear submarine continued to dock with this Asian ally.
US Navy submarine USS Annapolis (Image: Wikipedia).
Reuters cites information from the South Korean Navy that on the morning of July 24, the country’s nuclear submarine USS Annapolis entered the naval base on the South Korean island of Jeju to replenish supplies during a combat mission. The statement does not specify the task of the ship.
“The navies of the two countries plan to strengthen joint defenses with the arrival of the aircraft carrier Annapolis and conduct exchanges in honor of the 70th anniversary of the alliance,” the statement said.
The USS Annapolis visit comes just days after the USS Kentucky, a US nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, docked in Busan, South Korea, last week. This is the first time since the 1980s that a US nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine has visited South Korea.
USS Annapolis is not equipped with nuclear weapons like USS Kentucky and specializes in anti-ship and anti-submarine warfare. The ship participated in a joint US-South Korea-Japan anti-submarine exercise last September on the Korean Peninsula.
The presence of these submarines in South Korea drew sharp criticism from North Korea.
North Korea has warned that the deployment of weapons such as aircraft carriers, bombers and nuclear submarines by the United States in South Korea could give Pyongyang the right to decide to use nuclear weapons.