Seawolf Class Submarine Design
Compared to previous Los Angeles class submarines, Seawolf subs are larger, faster, and significantly quieter; they also carry more weapons and have twice as many torpedo tubes, for a total of 8. As a result of their advanced design, however, Seawolf subs were much more expensive. They were intended to combat the then-threat of large numbers of advanced Soviet ballistic missile submarines such as the Typhoon class and attack submarines such as the Akula class in a deep ocean environment.
Seawolf hulls were constructed from HY-100 steel, rather than the weaker HY-80 steel employed in previous classes, to better withstand water pressure at greater depths. The boats also have extensive equipment for shallow-water operations, including a floodable silo capable of simultaneously deploying eight combat swimmers and their equipment. The boats carry up to 50 UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles for attacking land and sea surface targets.
The projected cost for twelve submarines of this class was $33.6 billion, but after the Cold War, construction was stopped at three boats.
The class uses the more advanced ARCI Modified 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 pump-jet.
Seawolf Class submarine Variants
The USS Jimmy Carter is roughly 100 feet (30 m) longer than the other two boats 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. The MMP may also be used as an underwater splicing chamber for tapping of undersea fiber optic cables. This role was formerly filled by the decommissioned USS Parche (SSN-683). The Jimmy Carter was modified for this role by Electric Boat at the cost of $887 million.
Jimmy Carter is currently homeported at Naval Base Kitsap. In 2006, the Navy announced that it would homeport all three of its Seawolf submarines in Bangor.
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders: | General Dynamics Electric Boat |
| Operators: | United States of America |
| Preceded by: | Los Angeles class |
| Succeeded by: | Virginia class |
| Built: | 1989 – 2005 |
| In commission: | 1997 – present |
| Planned: | 29 |
| Completed: | 3 |
| Cancelled: | 26 |
| Active: | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | Surfaced: 8,600 tons Submerged: 9,138 tons |
| Length: | 353 ft (107 m) |
| Beam: | 40 ft (12 m) |
| Propulsion: | 1 S6W PWR 45,000 hp 1 secondary propulsion submerged motor 1 shaft 1 propeller |
| Speed: | Surfaced: 18 knots Submerged: 35+ knots |
| Range: | unlimited except by food supplies |
| Test depth: | 2,000 ft (610 m) |
| Complement: | 140 |
| Crew: | 14 Officers; 126 Enlisted |
| Armament: | 8 × 660mm torpedo tubes (50 Tomahawk cruise missile/Harpoon/Mk-48 torpedo) |
