The USS Helena, a nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine, arrived in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, just one day after Russian naval forces docked in Havana for joint exercises with Cuba, a known ally of Russia.
In an official statement posted on X, the US Southern Command clarified, “The fast-attack submarine USS Helena is in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, as part of a routine port visit. It is transiting the US Southern Command geographic area of responsibility while conducting its global maritime security and national defense mission.”
Typically, the movements of Navy submarines are highly classified and rarely made public.
The Pentagon has reassured that the presence of the Russian flotilla, despite its proximity, does not pose a threat to US security. US Navy destroyers and P-8 submarine-hunting aircraft monitored the Russian ships as they traveled south off the east coast of the United States.
Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh stated, “We’ve been tracking the Russians’ plans for this. This is not a surprise. We’ve seen them do this—these types of port calls before, and these are routine naval visits that we’ve seen under different administrations. We constantly monitor any foreign vessels operating near US territorial waters. While we take it seriously, these exercises don’t pose a threat to the United States.”
The USS Helena, based in Norfolk, is a Los Angeles-class fast-attack submarine commissioned in the 1980s, designed for global surveillance and threat response.
Last July, the USS Pasadena, another Los Angeles-class submarine, visited Guantanamo Bay, which led to strong reactions from the Cuban government, labeling it an escalation. The Pentagon indicated that the current Russian submarine visit to Cuba is partly a response to last year’s US submarine visit.