Subsea pipelines are normally subjected to complex environmental loads and structural fracture has been one of predominant failure modes. In recent years, the fracture phase field theory, based on Griffith's variational theory of fracture, has proven to be a valuable tool for simulating material fracture behavior, providing robust capabilities for simulating crack propagation in subsea pipelines. Therefore, within the framework of the fracture phase field method, this study aims to investigate the influence of circumferential surface crack defects on subsea pipelines under axial loads. In this paper, a crack propagation prediction is performed for circumferential surface cracks in subsea pipelines. The corresponding finite element models are then developed using ABAQUS user subroutines UEL and UMAT. A staggered algorithm is employed in the finite element analysis to predict the path of crack propagation in subsea pipelines with circumferential surface cracks. Furthermore, a comprehensive study is conducted to investigate the influence of parameters associated with the initial sizes of circumferential surface cracks on crack propagation and fracture behavior in subsea pipelines. In addition, critical factors affecting the crack propagation performance of subsea pipelines are explored, and insights are gained to improve the structural integrity.