Summary and key points: During the Cold War, the United States invested heavily in advanced weapons programs, such as the Seawolf-class submarine, designed to counter the Soviet naval threat. With the collapse of the USSR, many of those programs, including the Seawolf-class, were curtailed.
-Due to high costs and changing geopolitical realities, only three of the planned 29 Seawolf submarines were built. These submarines, which cost $5 billion each, featured advanced technologies and capabilities.
-However, the end of the Cold War and subsequent defense budget cuts made the program less essential, leading to its cancellation in favor of the more cost-effective Virginia-class submarines.
The costly legacy of the Seawolf-class submarine
During the Cold War, the United States spent lavishly on weapons programs, but once the USSR collapsed, American taxpayers balked at the idea of maintaining their Cold War force structure. Many weapons programs were canceled or suspended early on, such as the sea Wolf-class submarine, of which only three were built. However, if the USSR had held out, the latest generation submarine sea Wolf They would probably have been produced in larger quantities.
Cold War Competition
The Cold War pitted the world’s two great nations, the United States and the USSR, against each other in an exhaustive arms race.
On land, in the air and at sea, superpowers have raced to create and produce top-notch equipment; the urgency and pace of weapons development is the kind that only an existential conflict can inspire.
What increased the significance of the conflict was the fact that both nations possessed nuclear weapons; in fact, for part of the Cold War, they were only nations that possessed nuclear weapons. Consequently, each nation placed special emphasis on improving its nuclear triad.
Monitoring the start of the Seawolf Class
At sea, the superpowers developed nuclear-powered submarines that could fire missiles with nuclear warheads.
“The nuclear-powered submarines of the Soviet Navy, starting with the November“B-class attack submarines could dive twice as deep as most of their American counterparts and often had a higher top speed. But they had one glaring flaw: They were much louder,” wrote National Interest contributor Sebastian Roblin. As a result, the Americans could track the B-class attack submarines. November-class submarines, without being tracked simultaneously.
However, in the 1980s, the Soviets, who had received significant help from both the Japanese and the Norwegians, were able to improve significantly quieter submarines: the Akula-class, which featured two hulls and a quiet seven-blade propeller. American observers found that Akula worrying, for the Akula It was even quieter than the US Navy’s preeminent attack. Los Angeles Class submarine.
Paranoid that the Soviets could completely blunt the American naval advantage, the United States did what paranoid superpowers do: spend money on upgrading their weapons systems. The result was the sea Wolf-class submarine.
Introducing the Seawolf Class
The Seawolf is a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine that costs $5 billion per unit (in 2018 dollars). Its high price tag resulted in an impressive vessel: larger, faster, quieter and better armed than the preceding Los Angeles class.
“The US Navy had the builders put all kinds of good stuff in the sea Wolf submarine,” National interest Contributor Brent Eastwood wrote.
Naturally, as an enhanced addition to the US nuclear triad, the sea Wolf It can carry up to 50 UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles. As a guide, sea Wolf It was based on an ARCI-modified AN-BSY-2 combat system that included a spherical sonar array, a towed array sonar, and a wide aperture array.
Unplugging the plug
He sea Wolf The aircraft performed as expected and proved to be a capable addition to the U.S. fleet. However, as the Cold War ended, the defense budget entered a period of cutbacks. sea WolfWhat seemed like a necessary expense while the Soviets were prowling the world’s oceans suddenly seemed like a superfluous luxury in the post-Soviet 1990s. The program, originally planned to deploy 29 ships, was cancelled after only three ships were completed: the sea Wolf, Connecticutand Jimmy Carter.
The newest one Virginia Class The submarine shares some functionalities with the sea Wolf –but at less than half the price– threatening to leave the sea Wolf Totally irrelevant.
About the author: Harrison Kass
Harrison Kass is an advocacy writer with over 1,000 published articles. A lawyer, pilot, guitarist, and minor professional hockey player, he joined the U.S. Air Force as a trainee pilot but was medically discharged. Harrison holds degrees from Lake Forest College, the University of Oregon, and New York University. He lives in Oregon and listens to Dokken.
All images are Creative Commons.
