Seawolf class submarine
The second nuclear-powered
submarine,
USS Seawolf (SSN-575), which served from the early 1950s through 1987, was unique, and so can be considered the lead boat of the
"Seawolf (SSN-575) class". Since she had no sister ships, however, there is no distinction between information about that boat and that "class", and references to
Seawolf-class submarines may be safely assumed to refer to the three boats listed below, members of the
Seawolf (SSN-21) class.
The
Seawolf-class attack submarine (SSN) was the intended successor to the
Los Angeles class, ordered at the end of the
Cold War in 1989. At one time, an intended fleet of 29 submarines was to be built over a ten-year period, later reduced to twelve. The end of the
Cold War and budget constraints led to the fleet being cancelled at three boats in 1995, and led to the design of the smaller and potentially cheaper
Virginia-class submarine.
They are quieter than the previous
Los Angeles class submarines, larger, faster, have twice as many torpedo tubes for a total of 8, and carry more weapons, but were also much more expensive. They were intended to combat the then-threat of large numbers of advanced
Soviet ballistic-missile submarines in deep ocean, such as the
Typhoon class, and to reply to the new Soviet
Lira or Alfa class attack submarines. However they also have extensive equipment for shallow-water operations, including a floodable silo capable of deploying eight combat swimmers and their equipment at once. The boats can also carry up to 50
Tomahawk cruise missiles for land attack.
The class uses the more advanced AN/BSY-2 combat system, which includes a new larger spherical
sonar array, a wide aperture array (WAA), and a new towed-array sonar. Each boat is powered by a single
S6W nuclear reactor, delivering 52,000 hp (39 MW) to a low-noise
pumpjet propulsor.
USS
Jimmy Carter is roughly 100 feet (30 m) longer than the other two ships of her class due to the insertion of a section known as the Multi-Mission Platform (MMP), which allows launch and recovery of
ROVs and
Navy SEAL forces.
General characteristics
For all boats:
* Builders:
GD Electric Boat* Beam: 40 ft (12 m)
* Draft: 35 ft (11 m)
* Speed: 35 knots (65 km/h) dived, 20 knots (37 km/h) "silent", 25 knots "Tactical Speed"
* Propulsion:
S6W reactor manufactured by General Electric
* Depth: 610 m
* Armament: 8 × 26 inch (660 mm) torpedo tubes, 50 torpedoes or missiles, or 100 mines
For SSN-21, SSN-22:
* Displacement: 9,137 tons dived, 7,460 tons surfaced
* Length: 353 ft (108 m)
* Complement (approximate): 121, including 12 officers
For SSN-23:
* Displacement: 12,158 tons dived, 10,460 tons surfaced
* Length: 453 ft (138 m)
* Complement (approximate): 126, including 15 officers, 50 SOF
Ships
*
USS Seawolf (SSN-21) *
USS Connecticut (SSN-22)*
USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), was modified to replace
USS Parche in a special operations role.
USS
Jimmy Carter is currently homeported in
Bangor, Washington. In 2006, the Navy announced that it would homeport all three of its Seawolf submarines in Bangor.
*
"SSN-21 Seawolf-class", FAS.org
*
"SSN Seawolf class Attack Submarine, USA", naval-technology.com
