to the Pentagon, include taking the enemy by complete surprise while conducting:* Covert Strike Warfare: Hitting inland targets with Tactical Tomahawks and possibly future battlefield support missiles.* Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW): Destroying enemy submarines while conducting area underwater surveillance.* Covert Intelligence Gathering and Surveillance: Keeping American eyes on potential hot spots and enemy operations.* Antisurface Warfare (ASUW): Clearing the sea-lanes of enemy surface ships.* Covert Mine Warfare: Laying, detecting, and possibly clearing friendly and enemy naval minefields.* Battle Group/Amphibious Group Support: Protection and support for Carrier Battle Groups and Amphibious Ready Groups.* Special Warfare Support: A whole variety of clandestine missions, including direct action raids, reconnaissance, combat search and rescue, directing air strikes, and tactical intelligence gathering.
While this is just a brief list of missions Virginia can 'officially' carry out, imagine the potential for a class such as this. There are even discussions about making the Virginia design the basis for a new class of SSBNs to replace the Ohio-class boats, should this be required.
The general layout of the Virginia-class boats will not be unfamiliar to those who have been aboard previous nuclear attack submarines. In many ways, she is a Los Angeles-sized hull packed with systems pioneered by the Seawolf-class boats. The biggest difference with Virginia is that flexibility is the key in her design. In addition, the use of Commercial Off-The-Shelf (COTS) technology has been maximized in order to reduce overall production costs and allow for rapid integration of new systems and software. Another key element to reducing production costs has been the use of Computer Aided Design (CAD) for this class of submarine. In fact, the Virginia will be the first American warship designed solely by computer. In her own way, she is as much of a revolution in construction and systems as Seawolf was, with controlled cost management thrown in to tighten everyone's belt a bit!
We'll start our brief look around the Virginia at the heart of the boat's power. The new S9G pressurized water reactor produces sufficient shaft horsepower for a top speed only slightly less than that of Seawolf. This is one of the few areas where decreased cost has been allowed to reduce Virginia's capability. The reactor runs two steam turbines geared to a single shaft. In turn, this shaft will connect to a very quiet pumpjet propulsor, similar to those found in the British Trafalgars and the Seawolfs.
Equally importantly from a maintenance point of view, Virginia's reactor will have a 'life of the ship' reactor core, meaning there should never be a need to replace the reactor core! The new reactor design has been simplified and, amazingly, it should match SSN-21's impressive quieting levels within a 25 percent smaller volume. Because the overall design has been simplified, fewer components are required and the Virginia has fewer pumps and valves than any of her predecessors. This smaller size is one of many improvements that allow her overall submerged displacement to remain below 8,000 tons-a 1,000-plus ton reduction from that of the Seawolfs.
The hull of the Virginia is made from similar-strength steel as Seawolf, although because of Virginia's littoral-operations emphasis, the steel does need to be as thick as Seawolf's-providing additional cost and weight savings. The sub's maneuvering performance will also be unprecedented for a boat her size. The Virginia's control surfaces will be part of a digital 'fly-by-wire' ship control capability similar to those used so effectively on fighters such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon and F/A-18 Hornet. This eliminates much of the heavy cabling and hydraulic piping that runs throughout older classes of SSN.
Though Virginia is not faster than Seawolf and does not dive deeper or even carry as many weapons (only thirty-eight versus fifty for the SSN-21 boats), these facts can be misleading. The real difference between the two subs lies in their ability to conduct operations and fight in the Navy's new home of the littorals. While still able to fight with much of Seawolf's prowess in the open oceans, Virginia has incorporated special weapons, sensors, and other new equipment particularly well suited to her coastal missions.
The sonar suite on board the Virginia will include special high-frequency acoustic sensors designed to hunt and classify both diesel-electric boats and those with advanced air independent propulsion (AIP) systems. As with other SSNs, Virginia will carry a spherical active/passive sonar array along with the TB-29 Thin-Line Towed Array and the TB-16 Fat-Line Towed Array. Virginia will also carry a new lightweight WAA system, specifically optimized to locate super-quiet diesel-electric and AIP submarines. In the littoral regions, special attention will need to be devoted to naval mines, so Virginia will have a high-frequency sonar suite to detect the deadly 'weapons that wait.' The sensors will include sail- and chin- (beneath the sonar sphere) mounted arrays to provide the new boats with their best-ever mine-detection and — avoidance capability. Along with her sonar suite, Virginia will also have an array of sail-mounted sensors, almost identical to that of the Seawolf-class boats.
If there is one piece of equipment many submariners thought would never change, it was the old-fashioned periscope. Well, the Navy has got news for us periscope lovers-even this instrument is in for a drastic overall in the Virginia class. For the first time an entire class of U.S. submarines is being fitted without all the prisms, mirrors, and lenses found in the old optical periscopes. In their place will be two non-hull-penetrating 'photonics masts,' which will consist of a number of high-resolution visual sensors that transmit visual images back to large display screens fitted within the boat. In addition to a color television pickup, there is also an advanced thermal and low-light imaging system. The photonics system will also contain a laser range finder, something that will come in handy while working in the close-in coastal regions. Best of all, as their name indicates, these masts do not penetrate the main pressure hull, making one less weak spot for water to leak through in the event of battle damage or a packing failure.
The arrangement of sensor and communications masts on the conning tower/sail of USS Virginia (SSN-774). RUBICON, INC., BY LAURA DENINNO In addition, when the Virginia first enters service in 2004, she will likely be fitted with the new AN/BLQ-11A Long-term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS). The LMRS system is basically a team of UUVs (Unmanned Underwater Vehicles), with 21-inch/553mm diameter (so they fit in the torpedo tubes), that swim out and hunt freely for mines. These UUVs will not be connected to Virginia by a fiber-optic cable, as were earlier models. Instead, they will use a two-way acoustic data link. The UUVs can be launched and recovered (via a robotic arm in one of the torpedo tubes) from Virginia's torpedo tubes and will detect and classify mines primarily of the bottom and moored variety. As the LMRS program continues to mature, additional improvements, such as underwater mapping and beach reconnaissance, will probably be added to this revolutionary UUV system.
Overall, the Virginias will have a weapons-storage capacity remarkably similar to that of the Seawolf-class boats. While Virginia lacks the Seawolf's ability to carry fifty weapons internally (Virginia will only have four 21-inch/533mm torpedo tubes), she makes up for it by having twelve VLS tubes like those on the 688Is. This means that Virginia will have the ability to carry a total of thirty-eight weapons (twenty-six internally), including Tomahawk cruise missiles, Mk 48 ADCAP torpedoes, UUVs, and mines, to name just a few possibilities.
One other key element of the Virginia's war-fighting suite is going to be her ability to operate in the special operations role. Similar to many of the newer submarines coming out of the yards in the next several years (most notably the Jimmy Carter [SSN-23]) the Virginias will be capable of carrying a Dry Dock Shelter and the new Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS). The ASDS is a small mini- submarine 65 feet/21.7 meters long and 9 feet/2.75 meters wide. This tiny sub is fitted with a forward-looking and side-looking sonar to detect natural and man-made objects and conduct mine-detection and bottom-mapping operations. In addition, the ASDS has two masts-one a periscope and the other for communications and GPS navigation. To make life easier for the SEALs and other special operations units that might be carried, the torpedo room on board the Virginias will be easy to reconfigure. If need be, the center weapons-stowage structures can be removed in order to make room for special mission personnel, whether they be technicians, SEALs, or troops. These personnel will have access to an unusual nine-man lock-in/lockout chamber in addition to the use of the ASDS
