I've always had one huge question about nuclear subs.
The Seawolf class carries 50 weapons to Virginia's 38. The Seawolf is faster than Virginia. Yet people say the Virginia is more advanced than the seawolf. Which do you think is better. The faster, deadlier seawolf or the less deadly slower and more advanced Virginia.
Thnx.
Seawolf is to be fair a product of the Cold War - indeed I guess it was the last western SSN specifically designed to hunt and destroy Soviet subs.
Designed from the outset to restore and enhance the USN's acoustic advantage over a rapidly developing Soviet SSN fleet, the Seawolf program was blessed with massive funding and incorporated a lot of new technology. For instance, they were the first operational US SSN class to incorporate pumpjet propulsion. With sustained combat with the Soviet fleet in mind, a large magazine was fitted as standard.
They certainly weren't designed with littoral warfare in mind like the Virginia. The last Seawolf built, SSN-23 USS Carter had major modifications to give it a littoral capability, but the expense of Seawolf could no longer be justified. Seawolf is a hunter-killer, plain and simple and it without doubt does the job incredibly well.
The end of the Cold War meant that there was no longer a need for such a capable yet mission-specific platform like Seawolf. Virginia's design accepts the new need for a boat that could perform multi-role missions - especially supporting special forces and intelligence gathering. Given the lack of an enemy SSN threat, a large weapons magazine like that of Seawolf was a secondary consideration.
I think on a pure numbers versus development cost basis, Seawolf can still be judged more expensive than Virginia.
In conclusion, they simply were designed for different roles in an ever-changing world - yet without doubt both fantastic submarines.