US Navy - SeaWolf (SSN 21)

[XEROX]

The Navy's newest attack submarine, Seawolf (SSN 21)

Christening ceremonies

Sea trials

program included first underwater submergence, acoustics trials

and finally......

The Insignia of USS SeaWolf

 

[P.A.F]

looks deadly. thanx for sharing

 

[highsea]

great pics, PJ, but a little dated.

Seawolf was commissioned in 1996. The second in her class, SSN22 "Connecticut" was commissioned in 1998. SSN23 "Jimmy Carter" was set to be commissioned in 2002, but design mods has pushed her back to late this year, or early next.

The Seawolf Class boats were developed in the 80's as a counter the the Soviet threat. Since that threat is no more, the original 12 boat program was pared down to 3, and focus shifted to the Virginia Class.

The modifications on SSN23 are designed to improve specops capabilities. She was lengthened, and a new module was added behind the sail to allow deployment and recovery of various payloads without using the torpedo tubes. Of course, new electronics were added. She will be used for naval special warfare, tactical surveillance and mine warfare operations

The Seawolf class boats are very quiet. They say a Seawolf at 25 knots submerged is quieter than a Los Angeles class boat at the dock.

Specs:
Builders General Dynamics Electric Boat Division
Power Plant One S6W reactor
one shaft at with 52,000 shp with pumpjet propulsor

Length 353 feet (107.6 meters)
Draft 35 feet (10.67 meters)
Beam 40 feet (12.2 meters)
Displacement 7,460 ton surface displacement
9,137 tons submerged displacement
Speed Official: 25+ knots (28+ miles per hour, 46.3+ kph)
Actual: 35 knots maximum submerged speed
Actual: 20 knots tactical ["silent"] speed
Operating Depth Official: "greater than 800 feet"
Actual: About 1600 feet (Jane's Fighting Ships: 2000 feet)
Armament eight 660-mm torpedo tubes
50 Tomahawk cruise missiles or
50 Harpoon antiship missiles or
50 Mark 48 ADCAP torpedoes or
up to 100 mines
Crew 12 Officers; 121 Enlisted

-CM

 

[XEROX]

hey highsea, i read somwhere that the Seawolf does not have any VLS tubes :?:

 

[highsea]

I think that's correct. She's not a missile boat. She's a fast attack boat. Strictly a shadow and kill platform. That's why the 8 torp tubes.

Now you're goint to make me doublecheck my specs. FAS says 50 Tomahawks, that can't be right. You know how those guys are. Lol.

-CM

edit: correction. Seawolfs do have VLS, and they do carry Tomahawks. FAS was correct.

http://www.milnet.com/pentagon/seawolf.htm

-CM

 

[XEROX]

Yeah, the seawolf is ment to be armed with MK-48 torpedoes(50) and tomahawks or harpoons(50),

btw, the SSN 23 has a Submerged Displacement of 12,158 tons :eek

 

[XEROX]

found some pictures of Jimmy Carter (SSN-23)

Jimmy Carter (SSN-23), outdoors for the first time on June 4, 2004

crew of the Seawolf-class submarine stand in ranks awaiting the christening of their submarine

 

[XEROX]

The SSN-23 is going to be armed with tomahawk block IV cruise missile, whats the SSN-22 armed with??

another good picture of the submaine firing found, dont know which seawolf sub it is

 

[Red aRRow]

PJ-10 the pictures in your last two messages are not showing up. All we see is a red X.

Please upload the picture in the gallery and then hotlink them.

OR

Upload the pictures on www.photobucket.com and then hotlink them.

Thanks.

 

[neel24neo]

great pics.

 

[XEROX]

Thats funny, i posted first 2 pictures yesterday and they worked, ill re send all pictures :help

 

[XEROX]

What is the unit cost and average life for the seaWolf :?:

ahh just checked cost- a staggaring $4.5 billion :eek

Sounds like the next generation attack submarine NSSN will be much cheaper

small scale model of NSSN Class submarine

 

[highsea]

The short answer is $1 Billion and 30 years.

Modifications to SSN 23 added another $17 Million to the $1.07 Billion of the original contract. IIRC, SSN 21 cost $900 Million.

Electric Boat Corporation, Groton, Connecticut, is being awarded a $1,076,500,000 fixed-price-incentive contract for one SEAWOLF Class Nuclear Attack Submarine (SSN 23). Work will be performed in Quonset Point, Rhode Island (36%), and Groton, Connecticut (64%), and is expected to be completed by December 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was not competitively procured. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Arlington, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N00024-96-C-2108).

http://www.dod.gov/contracts/1996/c062896_ct403-96.html

-CM

 

[XEROX]

hey highsea, on (www.cdi.org/issues/naval/seawolf.html) it says the unit cost is $4.3 billion

and highsea what is the status of the NSSN :?:

 

[highsea]

That number is goofy. The original procurement for the entire 12 boat program was 33.6 Bn, that was the entire program cost. The procurement for SSN's 22 and 23 was $2.7 Bn. These are the numbers approved by Congress (program costs), but the actual contracts that the DOD awards are less. Obviously the unit costs and program costs are two separate things.

Status of NSSN. This is the Virginia Class. The first boat, SSN 774 Virginia was launched in Aug. 03, and should be finished with sea trials. She is scheduled to be commissioned on Oct. 23.

http://navysite.de/ssn/ssn774.htm

IIRC unit cost is about the same as the Seawolf class, around 900 mil- 1 Bil per copy. The total requirement is 30 boats. The procurement for the first 5 was done in one shot, and the next 5 will be approved one at a time. I will try to dig up the contract number and get an exact unit cost.

btw, the picture you posted of the sub firing a torp is an artists rendition of the Virginia.

edit: FAS lists unit cost for Virginia at $2 Bn. per copy.

 

[XEROX]

i see, still an awful lot of money for 1 submarine, btw highsea i read somwhere that compared to the seaWolf the NSSN will be slower and will be not so good at lower diving depths, on top of this its supposed to be carrying less weapons

Having said this its ment to be quiter then the seaWolf and has the capabilites for VLS, on top of this its ment to have real good surveillance capabilities

btw what is percived by magnetic stealth :?

correct me if im totaly wrong

I think this is an artists rendition of the NSSN

 

[highsea]

btw what is percived by magnetic stealth :?

I'm sure GF can speak more authoritatively than me on this, but the short answer would be that magnetic stealth would mean that it is more difficult to detect with magnetic anomaly detectors.

IIRC, the Virginia class is not as heavily armed as the Seawolf class in torps and CM's (38 vs. 50). It is targeted more towards littoral operations than blue water . Max depth of each is classified, so who can say? Both have VLS, 12 tubes on Virginia and 15 on Seawolf class (I think).

Here's a couple pics of SSN 774 "Virginia"

Virginia on the cradle at rollout. In the building behind you can see the sonar section for SSN 775 "Texas".

Christening ceremony

Virginia underway during alpha sea trials

Control Room. The pilot and copilot have touch-screen displays and joystick controls.

-CM