USS Seawolf (SSN-21)
USS Seawolf (SSN-21)
|
| Career |
|---|
| Awarded: | January 9 1989 |
| Laid down: | |
| Launched: | June 24 1995 |
| Commissioned: | July 19 1997 |
| Homeport: | Groton, Connecticut |
| General Characteristics |
|---|
| Displacement: | 7568 tons light, 9137 tons full, 1569 tons dead |
| Length: | 353 ft (108 m) |
| Beam: | 40 ft (12.2 m) |
| Draft: | 36 ft (11.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | One S6W nuclear reactor |
| Speed: | 35 knots (65 km/h) submerged, 20 knots (37 km/h) silent |
| Complement: | 15 officers and 101 men |
| Armament: | eight 30 inch (762 mm) torpedo tubes, 50 torpedoes and missiles, or 100 mines |
USS Seawolf (SSN-21), the lead ship of her class, is the fourth submarine of the United States Navy named for a solitary fish with strong, prominent teeth and projecting tusks that give it a savage look. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics and Newport News Shipbuilding.
The Seawolf was a product of the Cold War, designed as a replacement to the Los Angeles class submarines and as a response to the Soviet Akula class. It is said that the Seawolf is quieter at its tactical speed of 25 knots than a Los Angeles submarine is pierside. Originally 29 were planned for production, but with the end of the Cold war, the cost was judged to be prohibitively high and only 3 were built in favor of the smaller, cheaper, Virginia class.
See USS Seawolf for other submarines of this name.
