How then, was the Navy to keep both submarine yards alive with so few submarines to build? Not surprisingly, the Navy didn't have to look too far for help. It came directly from the two shipbuilders themselves-Electric Boat and Newport News. These two companies knew that it was in the nation's interests-and their own-to solve this dilemma. Which is exactly what they did in December of 1996 when Electric Boat and Newport News Shipbuilding offered the Navy a deal. How would the government like it if the two companies "teamed up" and produced the Virginia class together?
It was a remarkable offer and one that the Navy could not refuse. Both shipbuilders would take advantage of the Digital Design Database Electric Boat had used in constructing the Seawolf class, to help keep down costs and keep quality up. Additionally, each yard would build specific parts or sections of the boats, while each company would build and "stuff" their own reactor plant modules. The bow, stern, and sail sections of all the new subs would be built by NNS, along with the habitability and machinery spaces and the torpedo room. Electric Boat, as the prime contractor, would, in turn, construct nearly all remaining portions, including the engine room and control spaces. Finally, Electric Boat would assemble the first and third boats while NNS would handle the second and fourth.
The current plan calls for teaming on only the first four boats. The Navy, Congress, and the two remaining submarine builders will eventually have to examine where they go from there. Such construction decisions are momentous indeed. Especially when you look at how large a role the Virginias will play in the American submarine force of the twenty-first century.
USS Virginia (SSN-774): A Virtual Tour
Now that you have seen the future production plans for this new class of SSN, let's take a look at what new things they will be capable of accomplishing. We have to do this in a virtual fashion, as the Virginias are still mostly "paper" submarines. The official "keel laying" of Virginia (SSN-774) only occurred on September 2, 1999, and she will not be delivered to the fleet until 2004. Officially, though, the Pentagon has provided us with a great starting point in its new public campaign of openness about submarine operations and weapons. Gone forever are the days when the "Silent Service" was truly mute to the world outside of their pressure hulls.
As one might have guessed for a multimission boat, the Navy has bestowed upon the Virginias nearly every possible submarine mission under the sun, which speaks volumes about their versatility. These missions, according to the Pentagon, include taking the enemy by complete surprise while conducting:* Covert Strike Warfare: Hitting inland targets with Tactical Tomahawks and possibly future battlefield support missiles.* Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW): Destroying enemy submarines while conducting area underwater surveillance.* Covert Intelligence Gathering and Surveillance: Keeping American eyes on potential hot spots and enemy operations.* Antisurface Warfare (ASUW): Clearing the sea-lanes of enemy surface ships.* Covert Mine Warfare: Laying, detecting, and possibly clearing friendly and enemy naval minefields.* Battle Group/Amphibious Group Support: Protection and support for Carrier Battle Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups.* Special Warfare Support: A whole variety of clandestine missions, including direct action raids, reconnaissance, combat search and rescue, directing air strikes, and tactical intelligence gathering.
While this is just a brief list of missions Virginia can "officially" carry out, imagine the potential for a class such as this. There are even discussions about making the Virginia design the basis for a new class of SSBNs to replace the Ohio-class boats, should this be required.
The general layout of the Virginia-class boats will not be unfamiliar to those who have been aboard previous nuclear attack submarines. In many ways, she is a Los Angeles-sized hull packed with systems pioneered by the Seawolf-class boats. The biggest difference with Virginia is that flexibility is the key in her design. In addition, the use of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) technology has been maximized in order to reduce overall production costs and allow for rapid integration of new systems and software. Another key element to reducing production costs has been the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD) for this class of submarine. In fact, the Virginia will be the first American warship designed solely by computer. In her own way, she is as much of a revolution in construction and systems as Seawolf was, with controlled cost management thrown in to tighten everyone's belt a bit!
We'll start our brief look around the Virginia at the heart of the boat's power. The new S9G pressurized water reactor produces sufficient shaft horsepower for a top speed only slightly less than that of Seawolf. This is one of the few areas where decreased cost has been allowed to reduce Virginia's capability. The reactor runs two steam turbines geared to a single shaft. In turn, this shaft will connect to a very quiet pumpjet propulsor, similar to those found in the British Trafalgars and the Seawolfs.
Equally importantly from a maintenance point of view, Virginia's reactor will have a "life of the ship" reactor core, meaning there should never be a need to replace the reactor core! The new reactor design has been simplified and, amazingly, it should match SSN-21's impressive quieting levels within a 25 percent smaller volume. Because the overall design has been simplified, fewer components are required and the Virginia has fewer pumps and valves than any of her predecessors. This smaller size is one of many improvements that allow her overall submerged displacement to remain below 8,000 tons-a 1,000-plus ton reduction from that of the Seawolfs.
The hull of the Virginia is made from similar-strength steel as Seawolf, although because of Virginia's littoral-operations emphasis, the steel does need to be as thick as Seawolf's-providing additional cost and weight savings. The sub's maneuvering performance will also be unprecedented for a boat her size. The Virginia's control surfaces will be part of a digital "fly-by-wire" ship control capability similar to those used so effectively on fighters such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet. This eliminates much of the heavy cabling and hydraulic piping that runs throughout older classes of SSN.
Though Virginia is not faster than Seawolf and does not dive deeper or even carry as many weapons (only thirty-eight versus fifty for the SSN-21 boats), these facts can be misleading. The real difference between the two subs lies in their ability to conduct operations and fight in the Navy's new home of the littorals. While still able to fight with much of Seawolf's prowess in the open oceans, Virginia has incorporated special weapons, sensors, and other new equipment particularly well suited to her coastal missions.
The sonar suite on board the Virginia will include special high-frequency acoustic sensors designed to hunt and classify both diesel-electric boats and those with advanced air independent propulsion (AIP) systems. As with other SSNs, Virginia will carry a spherical active/passive sonar array along with the TB-29 Thin-Line Towed Array and the TB-16 Fat-Line Towed Array. Virginia will also carry a new lightweight WAA system, specifically optimized to locate super-quiet diesel-electric and AIP submarines. In the littoral regions, special attention will need to be devoted to naval mines, so Virginia will have a high-frequency sonar suite to detect the deadly "weapons that wait." The sensors will include sail- and chin- (beneath the sonar sphere) mounted arrays to provide the new boats with their best-ever mine-detection and — avoidance capability. Along with her sonar suite, Virginia will also have an array of sail-mounted sensors, almost identical to that of the Seawolf-class boats.