Actually, the idea of jet skies and hand grenades does just as much protecting the US from our enemies of today as a Virginia Class does. Just alittle less expensive.
The point of my post was, the US Navy should of went with a smaller, slightly less capable submarine in place of the Virginia. A submarine the size of the Virginia is above and beyond the necessary.
The reason the US stopped building the SSN 21 was because they were too big for what was perceived to be future submarine missions. Without a powerful seagoing nation as an enemy, the SSN21 was too much submarine for the future. Even the 688 is too much submarine for the roles our undersea forces find themselves in.
So now we find ourselves building a nuclear submarine even bigger than the 688. Easily submarine designers could of created a smaller, less expensive SSN. We could of operated twice the submarine fleet size, with basically the same capability, at the same cost.
No matter how fast a submarine is, it cannot be in two places at once.
Dux, I served on the Uss Groton from Janurary 1981 to Sept 1985. During that time I also rode the Uss Dallas and the Uss Philadelphia.
