The U.S. Navy's Greatest Mistake Ever: They Only Built 3 Of These Nuclear Attack Submarines
Kyle Mizokami [2]
The resulting submarine is according to the U.S. Navy ten times quieter over the full range of operating speeds than the Improved Los Angeles submarines, and an astonishing seventy times quieter than the original Los Angeles–class submarines. It can run quiet at twice the speed of previous boats. This formidable increase in performance came at formidable increase in cost. The total Seawolf program was estimated at $33 billion for twelve submarines, an unacceptable cost considering the Soviet Union—and the threat of the Akula and follow-on subs—ended in 1991. The program was trimmed to just three submarines that cost $7.3 billion.
Source URL (retrieved on April 3, 2018):
http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-buzz/the-us-navys-greatest-mistake-ever-they-only-built-3-these-25183
