Seawolf class
 Seawolf on the water surface |
|
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Hunting submarine |
| units | 3 built, 3 active |
| Namesake | Sea wolves |
| period of service |
since 1997 |
| Technical specifications | |
| displacement |
9,137 ts / 12,158 ts submerged |
| length |
108/138 meters |
| width |
12.2 meters |
| Draft |
11 meters |
| Diving depth | > 240 m |
| crew |
12 officers and 121 men |
| drive |
S6W pressurized water reactor, nozzle ring propeller |
| speed |
> 25 knots |
| Armament |
8 × 660 mm torpedo tubes |
The Seawolf-class is a class of nuclear-powered fighter submarines in the United States Navy . The class was planned towards the end of the Cold War, originally it should consist of 29 boats. Ultimately, however, due to the geopolitical changes after the collapse of the Soviet Union, only three were built. The third unit has been heavily modified so that it can also be used for special operations.
history
Planning and construction
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Planning for the Seawolf class began in the mid-1980s towards the end of the Cold War , with the declared aim of the US Navy maintaining maritime sovereignty. The class was planned to replace the older boats of the Sturgeon and Los Angeles classes , a total of 29 boats were planned within ten years.
However, after the end of the Cold War, this number was quickly reduced to twelve, in 1991 33.6 billion US dollars (dollar value of 1998) were earmarked for this. The end of the block confrontation, however, meant budget cuts for the US Navy, which were responsible for the further development and production of the class being discontinued after only three boats in 1995. Instead, the smaller and, according to plans, cheaper Virginia-class boats were built. Overall, the Seawolf program cost the Navy approximately 7.4 billion US dollars, including costs for the design, construction and equipment of the ships, but not additional costs for the retrofitting of the third unit.
The production took place in modular construction. All units were manufactured by Electric Boat . In their plant in Quonset Point , Rhode Island , eight further sections were built in addition to the tower , bow and stern, most of which were already equipped internally. These were transported to the EB shipyard in Groton , Connecticut , where they were welded together.
When numbering the boats of the Seawolf class (SSN-21 to -23), the otherwise usual, consecutive numbering was interrupted for the first time. The actual numbers for the boats should have been SSN-774 to -776. The classification as SSN-21 was meant to symbolize that the USS Seawolf was the first submarine of the 21st century. The naming is anything but consistent. The first unit was still the Los Angeles-class submarine usual, named after a species of fish, the catfish . The second unit was named Connecticut after the US state, which was previously reserved for battleships , nuclear cruisers and missile submarines , while the third unit was named after a personality, Jimmy Carter .
The Seawolf was laid down in 1989, the Connecticut in 1992 and the Jimmy Carter in 1998. The boats were only launched more than five years later, and between 1997 and 2005 they were put into service.
Modifications
For the Jimmy Carter , a supplementary contract for USD 887 million was awarded in 1999, while construction was still in progress. For this purpose, a 30 meter long, so-called multi-mission platform was integrated behind the tower , which allows autonomous underwater vehicles to be started, divers to be deployed and a dry deck shelter to be transported.
The unit replaces the 2004 decommissioned USS Parche (SSN-683) as a special-purpose boat.
Present and Future
By canceling the program after three units, the Seawolfs only make up a small part of the US Navy's submarine fleet. The older Los Angeles-class boats are instead being replaced by the Virginias , who are more specialized in tasks that will be in demand after the end of the Cold War.
The three Seawolf-class units built have a life expectancy of 30 years and will therefore be in service until around 2030.
technology
hull
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The hull of the Seawolf-class boats is 108 meters long, the multi-mission platform of the Jimmy Carter extends this to 138 meters; the width of all boats is just over ten meters. The displacement is over 9,000 tons or over 12,000 tons for SSN-23. The hull is made of so-called HY-100 steel ( high-yield 100,000 psi, i.e. yield strength of 100,000 pounds per square inch, about 690 N / mm² ), which should guarantee the boats a greater diving depth than older boats with HY-80- Steel. The Navy specifies the diving depth as 800+ feet (approx. 234 meters), but this is hardly the actually achievable depth: The specialist journal Jane's Fighting Ships speaks of about 2000 ft (approx. 610 meters). In addition to these excellent mechanical properties, the steel is also very suitable for welding - an important property for ship and, above all, submarine construction.
The boat's depth rudders are located in the front third of the hull and are retractable so that the boats can more easily emerge through arctic ice. For this purpose the tower of the boats was also strengthened. Before a trip, the entire boat is largely demagnetized in a system known as a Magnetic Silencing Facility in order to prevent it from being detected by hostile magnetometers .
drive
The Seawolf-class is powered by an S6W nuclear reactor . S stands for the type (here Submarine ), 6 for the manufacturer's reactor generation, which is identified by the W , in this case Westinghouse Electric . This reactor has an output of around 39,000 kW (52,000 PS) on the single shaft. According to official information, the class can achieve speeds of "25+" knots. Jane's Fighting Ships , however, gives a "quiet" speed of 20 knots and describes 39 knots as the maximum diving speed.
The Seawolfs are not propelled by a conventional propeller, but by a nozzle ring propeller. This type of drive, which greatly reduces noise, was installed in the Seawolf class for the first time in an American submarine class. According to the manufacturer, Electric Boat, the boats are quieter at high speed than a Los Angeles-class boat on the pier. The tactical speed, i.e. the speed at which the sonar systems can still be used and the noise development remains within limits, should be 25 knots.
Armament
The Seawolf class has eight torpedo tubes in the bow , which eliminates one of the main criticisms of the Los Angeles class , namely the insufficient number of tubes (four). These tubes with a diameter of 660 millimeters can shoot down the Mark 48 ADCAP , the UGM-109 Tomahawk and the anti-ship missile Harpoon . A combination of 50 of these weapons can be carried. Alternatively, up to 100 sea mines can be taken on board. In contrast to the improved Los Angeles and Virginia class , no vertical launching system was installed, which minimizes the possibilities for large-scale land attacks, since cruise missiles would have to be shot from the torpedo tubes.
electronics
The sonar system of the Seawolf-class submarine is the BSY-2 . It consists of a spherical sonar (low frequency sonar) with a diameter of 24 feet (7.3 meters), which is housed in the bow and can work both actively and passively. An active high-frequency sonar for detecting small objects such as mines and for use under ice is located in the tower. On both sides of the submarine there are additional passive sensors ("lateral sensors") that primarily record low-frequency noise patterns. For slow journeys, the Seawolfs can roll out a towing sonar , either the TB-16 (about 2,400 ft / 730 meters long) or the TB-29 . The first system is thicker and therefore only suitable for very slow speeds, while the TB-29 can also be used for shading at medium speeds.
A radar of the type BPS-16 from Litton Marine Systems , which transmits on the I-band , i.e. between 8 and 10 GHz, is installed on the tower for navigation in the surface Several antennas are available for communication, including high-frequency antennas for communication via satellites as well as extremely low-frequency antennas, via which short code groups can be received even at great depths.
A mast is available for telecommunications and electronic reconnaissance , with which radio and radar signals can be located. There are also two periscopes , one with a slightly larger head as a search periscope (the larger head transmits a clearer image, but also increases the radar cross-section ), and a smaller periscope specially designed for attacks.
Mission profile
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The Seawolf class boats were designed during the Cold War. Therefore, great attention was paid to combat strength and camouflage skills . As a main task, the boats should have carried out the surveillance of Soviet missile submarines ( SSBN ). Since these are usually escorted, the lowest possible noise development was necessary and the number of torpedo tubes had to be increased to eight in order to be able to combat several targets at the same time. Only one torpedo against the Soviet / Russian SSBN of the Typhoon class might not be sufficient for a sinking due to their enormous size. The Seawolf's tower has been specially reinforced to allow operations under the Arctic ice, the preferred area of operation for Soviet SSBNs .
Today, the first two Seawolfs are mainly used in aircraft carrier combat groups or similar formations, where, due to their higher tactical speed, they can better keep up with fast-moving groups than their predecessors. The third boat in the class is mainly used for the dismantling and resumption of special forces in covert operations that are subject to secrecy.
literature
- Michael Green: Attack Submarines: The Seawolf Class ; Edge Books 2004, ISBN 0-7368-2721-8 (English)
- Elaine Pascoe: The Seawolf Submarine ; Blackbirch Press 2004, ISBN 1-56711-868-2 (English)
- Gregory Payan: Fast Attack Submarine ; Children's Press 2000, ISBN 0-516-23338-6 (English)
- Stephen Saunders: Jane's Fighting Ships 2005-2006 ; Jane's Information Group 2005, ISBN 0-7106-2692-4 (English)
Web links
- Seawolf class on globalsecurity.org (English)
- Seawolf class on naval-technology.com (English)
Footnotes
- ↑ a b fact sheet of the US Navy (engl.)
- ↑ Attack Submarines - SSNs from The Warfighter's Encyclopedia ( Memento of October 29, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) (Eng.)
