Up until World War II and for a little after, submarine squadrons could have several Submarine Divisions (SubDivs), often pairs of submarines. Reserve submarine divisions also existed after World War II. A SUBRON usually consists of three or more
submarines. It is the submarine force equivalent to a
destroyer squadron in the surface Navy. The officer in charge of SUBRON ONE is designated Commander Submarine Squadron One or COMSUBRON ONE. However, unlike a destroyer squadron—which actually moves its staff aboard its ships and deploys with them as an operational Task Element commander—a SUBRON commander and his staff always remain in homeport, and are responsible only for the training, equipping and administering of the ships under its umbrella. A submarine squadron is usually commanded by a
Captain (O-6) who has already had at least one tour as
commander of a submarine. Several submarine squadrons may be organized into a Submarine Group (SUBGRU), headed under a
flag officer. For instance, SUBRON 17, SUBRON 19 and DEVRON 5 are part of SUBGRU 9 in Bangor, Washington. The overall responsibility for submarines on the west coast of the United States is taken by the Commander Submarine Force,
U.S. Pacific Fleet (
COMSUBPAC); on the east coast, the same responsibility rests with the Commander Submarine Force, Atlantic Fleet (
COMSUBLANT). The latter is the senior of the two, and thus also plays a secondary role as Commander, Submarine Force (COMSUBFOR). When a submarine deploys, for instance as part of a
carrier strike group, operational command is transferred to the numbered fleet commander for the theater to which the submarine is deploying, e.g., Commander
Fifth Fleet.
List of submarine squadrons Odd numbered squadrons are West Coast (Pacific Fleet), even numbered East Coast (Atlantic Fleet).
Pacific Fleet squadrons Atlantic Fleet squadrons List of submarine groups ==References==