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The Seawolf class is a type of nuclear-powered fast attack submarine (SSN) in service with the United States Navy. The class was intended to succeed the Los Angeles class, and design work began in 1983. A fleet of 29 submarines was being built over ten years, but this was reduced to 12 submarines. The end of the Cold War and budget constraints led to a halt to any further additions to the fleet in 1995, leaving the Seawolf class limited to just three boats. This in turn led to the design of the small class in Virginia. The Seawolf class cost about $3 billion per unit ($3.5 billion for the USS Jimmy Carter), making it the most expensive SSN submarine ever, and the second most expensive ever, after France's SSBN Triomphant class.
Seawolf Class Subs
The design of the Seawolf is intended to counter the threat of advanced Soviet ballistic missiles, such as the Typhoon class, and to attack submarines such as the Akula class in deep sea environments. The hulls of the Seawolf class are made of HI-100 steel, which is stronger than the HI-80 steel used in previous classes, to withstand the pressure of deep water.
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The Seawolf submarines are bigger, faster and much quieter than the previous Los Angeles-class marines; they also carry more weapons and have double torpedo tubes. The submarines are capable of carrying up to 50 UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles to attack land and sea targets. Boats also have large rigs that enable shallow water activities. The class uses ARCI's highly advanced AN/BSI-2 combat system, which includes a spherical array sonar, an aperture array (VAA) and a new towed array sonar. Each boat is powered by a single S6V nuclear generator, delivering a 45,000 hp (34 MW) low-mass jet.
However, as a result of their advanced designs, Seawolf submarines were very expensive. The projected cost of the 12 submarines of this class was $33.6 billion, but construction of the three submarines was halted when the Cold War ended.
The USS Jimmy Carter is about 100 feet (30 meters) longer than the other two ships in its class, due to the inclusion of a Multi-Mission Platform (MMP) that allows remote underwater launch and recovery operations. vehicles (ROVs). ) and Navy Seals. The MMP can also be used as a conduit for underwater fiber optic cables. This role was previously performed by the now decommissioned USS Parche. Jimmy Carter was replaced in this role by General Dynamics Electric Boat at a cost of $887 million. The Seawolf-class submarine was built to fight Russia in a third-word war scenario. And with the death of the USSR, the Seawolf class has to slow down: the dangerous design of the Soviet ballistic missile submarines and to replace the Los Angeles class of submarines, the Seawolf class of fast nuclear-powered submarines (SSNs) has. It is described as the best of the best. A total of 29 boats were built over a 10-year period - that number has since been reduced to 12 - but only three have been launched.
Simply put, the Seawolf class may have been the best, but at about $3 billion to $3.5 billion per ship, it was too expensive, especially given the changing global geopolitics. Instead, the US Navy opted for a smaller and more expensive one
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When the Seawolf-class program began in the mid-1980s, it was America's first all-new submarine, but it was also the most advanced and expensive hunter-killer. First in class,
It was established in 1989 and the estimated cost of the 1991 class was estimated at $33.6 billion or approximately 25% of the naval construction budget.
It had a modular design that allowed for later upgrades, including weapon development and better sonar systems, and was therefore "future proof". It had a maximum diving speed of 35k and a 'quiet' speed of 20k.
The class has no external armament, it is designed with eight torpedo tubes twice as many as the Los Angeles class, along with a double deck torpedo room to allow multiple threats to be engaged simultaneously. It also has a 30% increase in weapons magazine that provides a combination of up to 50 Mark 47 heavy torpedoes, Sub-Harpoon anti-ship missiles and Tomahawk missiles.
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This new class also had reinforced sails that allowed for operations below the ice cap and the highest speed of any American cruiser. More importantly, the design effort was focused on noise reduction - it was about 70 times quieter than the previous generation of Los Angeles class boats and 10 times quieter than the Los Angeles submarines.
The Seawolf class is designed to be a true hunter, able to detect the latest developments in the Soviet Akula submarine, which in addition to being able to operate silently, can dive to depths of up to 2,000 feet. . To face the Soviet threat
The sonar package included a BKK 5D with bow-mounted dynamic/inertial array and wide side-hole array, along with TB-16 and TB-29 towed arrays - each of the latter can be upgraded and improved with more advanced equipment. The vessel has begun to be re-equipped with the Lockheed Martin AN/BKK-10(V4) sonar output system as part of the Acoustic Rapid Commercial Insertion (A-RCI) program.
The class was not the Soviet Navy, but the collapse of the Soviet Union. Without encountering an enemy, the program was not worth the cost.
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Ultimately, only three of the class were completed, but they will remain an important part of the US Navy.
Peter Suciu is a Michigan writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites. He is the author of several books on military headgear, including "Gallery of Military Headgear," available on Amazon.com.
Expert Bio: 1945 Senior Editor Peter Suciu is a Michigan writer who has contributed to more than four dozen magazines, newspapers and websites with more than 3,000 pieces published during a twenty-year career in journalism. He writes regularly on military equipment, weapons history, cyber security and international affairs. Peter is also a contributing writer for Forbes. You can follow him on Twitter: @PeterSuciu. The Seawolf was designed to be a fast, well-armored submarine that could eventually replace the Los Angeles-class nuclear submarines.
The first of the class, Seawolf (SSN21), was ordered by the Power Boat Division of General Dynamics, Connecticut, USA, in January 1989 and commissioned in July 1997. Connecticut (SSN22) was commissioned in December 1998. The third, Jimmy Carter (SSN 23), was launched in June 2004 and commissioned in February 2005.
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The third vessel was modified to improve cargo carrying capacity and underwater mobility. Design changes include modifications to ballast control, mission control and the creation of a flexible marine interface known as the "midship", which allows for the deployment and recovery of payloads without the use of torpedo tubes.
The Seawolf was a product of the Cold War, designed to maintain America's strategic advantage over Soviet submarines. With the end of the Cold War and the shift in emphasis to littoral operations, the cost of the Seawolf submarines was deemed too high, and the program was scaled back in favor of the smaller and cheaper Virginia-class New Attack submarines.
The design of the Seawolf model features significant improvements and innovations. It has greater maneuverability than the Los Angeles class, space for weapon upgrades and upgrades, and improved sonar.
Seawolf has a submerged displacement of 9,137t submerged (12,139t for Jimmy Carter) and 8,060t surfaced. Complete acoustic insulation is installed. It has a maximum diving speed of 35k and a 'quiet' speed of 20k. It has a crew of 116 people, including 15 officers. With a diving depth of 610 m, it is designed with the possibility of going under retractable bow planes.
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The combat data system is a Lockheed Martin BSI-2 with a network of 70 68030 Motorola processors. It was replaced by the Raitheon AN/BIG-1 combat system. Weapon control is handled by the Raitheon mk2 fire control system.
Like the enhanced Los Angeles class, the Seawolf has no external weapons. The submarine is armed with attack and anti-ship versions of Raytheon's Tomahawk missiles. The Tomahawk's ground attack range is 2,500 km.
The Tercom assisted inertial navigation system (TAINS) guides the projectile to the target, flying at a low speed at a height of 20 to 100 meters.
The Tomahawk can be equipped with a nuclear warhead, although it is not normally carried. Block III improvements include an improved propulsion system and Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) navigation capability. The Tomahawk anti-ship missile is equipped with passive guidance and active radar and an anti-radiation homing warhead. Its length is about 450 km.
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The first underwater launch of the new Raitheon Tactical Tomahawk block IV missile took place in November 2002. Block IV includes a two-way satellite link that allows the missile to be reconfigured in flight and transmits image guidance. Battle Damage (BDI). The missile entered service with USN surface ships in September 2004.
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