Summary and key points: The Los Angeles-class attack submarines, known as the 688 class, have been a cornerstone of U.S. naval power since their introduction in 1976.
-Built by Newport News Shipbuilding, these nuclear-powered submarines are equipped with advanced sonar, electronic warfare systems and Tomahawk cruise missiles, making them formidable underwater combatants.
-With a displacement of 6,900 tons and the ability to cruise at over 28 mph, these submarines offer unmatched stealth and endurance.
-Despite their proven capabilities, the U.S. Navy is retiring them, raising concerns about maintaining underwater dominance amid growing threats from China and Russia.
-The maintenance and modernization of these submarines could be crucial.
He the AngelsThe -class attack submarine is amazing… but age is a problem
Known as the 688 class (pronounced “six-eighty-eight”), the class the AngelsThe B-class attack submarine is probably the largest nuclear-powered attack submarine in the world. If not the largest, it is certainly the most ubiquitous.
Built by Newport News Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company in Newport News, Virginia, the first submarine of this class, the USS the Angels (SSN-688), was commissioned in 1976. These submarines replaced the previous top-tier U.S. attack submarine, the Sturgeon-class.
The specifications
The standard the AngelsThe A-class submarines are equipped with four torpedo tubes and can carry up to twenty-five torpedoes. These boats can launch the ever-potent Tomahawk cruise missiles. the AngelsThe -class submarines are equipped with advanced sonar systems, making them highly capable of detecting and tracking enemy vessels.
What’s more, they have a beautiful set of electronic warfare (EW) systems to defend against enemy attacks.
Powered by a single nuclear reactor, giving it a high degree of stealth and endurance, this incredible war machine has a displacement of approximately 6,900 tons when submerged and can cruise at over 28 miles per hour (that’s fast for a submarine). the AngelsThe 688 class carries 143 crew members, including sixteen officers and 127 enlisted men. A 688 class submarine can dive to depths of over 900 feet.
Thanks to its nuclear reactor, the the AngelsThe B-class submarine has a seemingly unlimited range and poses a serious threat to rival navies China, Russia and others.
Submarines vs. Aircraft Carriers
TO the AngelsA B-class attack submarine costs about $1 billion to build and about $50 million per year to maintain. That’s a bargain, especially when you consider that the average cost of building a U.S. aircraft carrier (the primary platform for maritime power projection) is tens of billions of dollars and costs hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes to maintain.
What’s more, submarines, like the the Angels-class attack submarines, require only a fraction of the crew to operate that an American flat-deck submarine needs (even with advanced automation practices of the type that the Gerald R. Ford-Class carriers are implementing).
Moreover, the rise of anti-access/area-denial (A2/AD) capabilities—and their proliferation across virtually all of America’s major rivals, including rising powers like China, petty dictatorships like Venezuela, and even non-state groups like the Houthis and Hezbollah—makes a U.S. attack submarine an unprofitable investment. This reality is even starker when compared to the cost-efficiency and power projection capabilities that an attack submarine enables.
While in today’s modern era of massive, global surveillance no platform is undetectable, nuclear submarines are among the most difficult platforms to track and destroy in the world – far more so than aircraft carriers. And submarines still provide immense power projection capabilities for the US Navy in today’s A2/AD-laden environments.
There are not enough spare parts on hand
Despite these facts, the Navy continues to withdraw its fleet from the Angels-Class attack boats, although their replacements are not necessarily available. There has been much talk about what to do with many of the retired attack boats. the Angels-class subs.
The first step would be to invest in modernizing them, extending their service life, and keeping them in the U.S. fleet. In addition, the Navy could sell some of these older units to U.S. allies, such as Australia, to help increase interoperability between our navies and strengthen the navies of allied militaries similarly facing the growing threat from China.
As of 2024, there are forty-one the Angels-class attack submarines in service with the U.S. Navy. These legendary ships are expected to remain in service at least until 2030, when they will be replaced by the Navy’s new attack submarines. Virginia-class submarines.
However, due to budgetary constraints, bureaucratic inertia, lack of political will and technological complications, the likelihood of the Navy replacing all of its the Angels-class attack submarines with the Virginia-Low class submarines are low.
This will create huge gaps in the US submarine force, which will have detrimental effects on the US’s overall strategic position in the world. China, America’s greatest rival in the world today, has mass production capabilities that would make any American industrialist blush (indeed, many of those industrialists spent the last forty years developing China’s capabilities in this regard while destroying America’s).
Doing things right
In a straight numbers game, the balance of submarine power will tip immeasurably in China’s favor if these negative trends continue. The United States makes some really stupid decisions. One of them has been to prematurely withdraw its perfectly the Angels-class attack submarines without a reliable number of replacement ships available.
Another measure has been to refuse to resell retired systems to allied navies. While technological advances certainly play a role in determining winners and losers in combat, quantity, as Mao once noted, has a quality all its own.
China understands this, while the Americans are busy building their Wünderwaffe.
Author’s experience and expertise: Brandon J. Weichert
Brandon J. Weichert, a national security analyst for the National Interest, is a former congressional staffer and a contributing geopolitical analyst to The Washington Times, Asia Times, and The-Pipeline. He is the author of Winning Space: How America Remains a Superpower, Biohacked: China’s Race to Control Life, and The Shadow War: Iran’s Quest for Supremacy. His forthcoming book, A Disaster of Our Own Making: How the West Lost Ukraine, will be published Oct. 22 from Encounter Books. Weichert can be followed on Twitter. @WeTheBrandon.
All images are Creative Commons or Shutterstock.
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