Movin' on...

Jesse should be wrapping things up on the Seawolf this week.  I got sidetracked about six months ago and never got around to writing about the Seawolf.  Now I'm just lazy.  I lifted all of this stuff below from the net. One thing I could add tho is that the first in any series of boats is named for its class.  Thus, USS Seawolf SSN 21 is the first built in that class of subs. There haven't been many Seawolf SSN's -- 22 is the Connecticut and 23 is the Jimmy Carter. That's it. Oh, and another thing is that you'll see it goes from SS to SSN.  SSN is the nuclear designation.

This was Jesse's first stateside job as supervisor of his nuke crew.  He was really pleased with their work and even said so in a memo to his boss. Good start Jess, kudos are few and far between and a few moments of your time to say so earns you loyalty.  Unless they think you're a total jerk for working them so hard ;)  Glad to learn that as he moves thru the ranks Jesse is learning to be mindful of his six and is developing a knack for the velvet hammer his grandfather was so famous for.  Keep it up man, I'm proud of ya!

That's it for my input, except: [....]  = my comment

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The Seawolf Ships

There have been six ships with the Seawolf (named for a solitary fish with strong, prominent teeth and projecting tusks that give it a savage look) name in the US Navy. 

                  

And Now, for the Boats............

The first was the lead ship in her class, renamed H-1 (SS-28) before launching.

 Commissioned in 1913, she ran aground and sank in 1920.

The second, Seawolf SS-197 was a Sargo-class sub. 
Commissioned in 1939, she was successful during WWII until 
she was lost to friendly fire from destroyer escort Rowell in 1944.
[I've also read it was aircraft from a carrier that sank her]

The third, Seawolf SSN-575 was the second nuclear submarine, 
[first was USS Nautilus SSN 571] 
and the only US submarine built with a liquid metal (sodium) nuclear reactor. 
She was commissioned in 1957 and stricken in 1997.

The fourth, Seawolf SSN-21 is the lead ship [of her class of three boats].

She was commissioned in 1997 and is currently undergoing refit in Washington.

[can't remember if it's Bangor or Bremerton but since she's homeported in Bremerton I'm guessing that's where she is now]

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SSN Seawolf Class Attack Submarine SSN-21

The Seawolf was conceived as a faster, better-armed eventual replacement for the Los Angeles class nuclear-powered attack submarines. The first of class, the Seawolf SSN21, was ordered from the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics, Connecticut, in January 1989 and commissioned in July 1997.

The Seawolf was a product of the Cold War, conceived to maintain the USA’s acoustic advantage over Soviet submarines. With the end of the Cold War and the change of emphasis to littoral operations, the cost of the Seawolf submarines was judged prohibitive and the program was curtailed in favour of the smaller and cheaper Virginia Class New Attack Submarines.

[this is the way Jesse sees her]

DESIGN

The Seawolf’s modular design introduces important improvements and innovations. It has greater manoeuvrability than the Los Angeles Class, space for later upgrades and weapons developments, and better sonars.

The Seawolf has a submerged displacement of 9,137t dived  and 8,060t surfaced. Full acoustic cladding has been installed. It has a maximum speed of 35 knots dived, and a "silent" speed of 20 knots. It has a crew of 116 personnel, including 15 officers. With a diving depth of 610m, it has been designed with a sub-ice capability, with retractable bow planes.

COMBAT SYSTEM
The combat data system is a Lockheed Martin BSY-2 with a network of some 70 or so 68030 Motorola processors. This being replaced by the Raytheon AN/BYG-1 combat system. Weapons control is managed by the Raytheon Mk 2 fire control system.

MISSILES
Like the improved Los Angeles class, the Seawolf does not have any external weapons. The submarine is armed with both the land-attack and anti-ship version of the Tomahawk missile from Raytheon. The land-attack Tomahawk has a range of 2,500km. A TAINS (Tercom Aided Inertial Navigation System) guides the missile towards the target flying at subsonic speed at an altitude of 20m to 100m. Tomahawk can be fitted with a nuclear warhead which is not normally carried. Block III improvements include an improved propulsion system and Navstar Global Positioning System (GPS) guidance capability. The anti-ship Tomahawk missile is equipped with an inertial guidance and an active radar and anti-radiation homing head. The range is up to 450km.

First underwater launch of the new Raytheon Tactical Tomahawk Block IV missile took place in November 2002. Block IV includes a two-way satellite link that allows reprogramming of the missile in flight and transmission of Battle Damage Indication (BDI) imagery. The missile entered service with USN surface ships in September 2004. The Seawolf class also carry the Harpoon anti-ship missile from Boeing. Sub-Harpoon uses active radar homing to deliver a 225kg warhead. The range is 130km and the speed is high subsonic.

TORPEDOES

Seawolf has eight 660mm torpedo tubes for launching torpedoes and missiles. 50 missiles/torpedoes are carried. The Gould Mk-48 ADCAP torpedoes combat both high-performance surface ships and fast deep-diving submarines. The torpedo has a 267kg warhead. It is capable of operating with or without wire guidance and uses either or both active and passive homing. Range is 50km (active) and 38km (passive).


COUNTERMEASURES
Countermeasures include the Northrop Grumman WLY-1 torpedo decoy system and a GTE WLQ-4(V)1 electronic countermeasures (ECM) system. 

SENSORS

The submarine's sonar suite is the BQQ 5D with bow-mounted active/passive arrays and wide aperture passive flank arrays. Also fitted are TB-16 surveillance and TB-29 tactical towed arrays, which will be replaced by the TB-29A thin-line towed array being developed by Lockheed Martin, and BQS 24 active sonar for close range detection.

The Seawolf submarines are being upgraded with the Lockheed Martin AN/BQQ-10(V4) sonar processing system under the Acoustic-Rapid Commercial-Off-The-Shelf Insertion (A-RCI) programme.
BPS 16 radar, operating at I-band, is fitted for navigation.

PROPULSION

The nuclear-powered Seawolf has a GE PWR S6W reactor system, two turbines rated 52,000hp (38.8MW), a pumpjet propulsor, a single shaft, and one secondary propulsion submerged motor.

Awards

2007:  Tactical White "T"

           Battle Efficiency "E" Ribbon

           Marjorie Sterrett Battleship Fund Award

           Meritorious Unit Commendation

2004:   Battle Efficiency "E" Ribbon 

Notes of Interest

It's said that SEAWOLF is quieter at its tactical speed of 25 knots than  a LOS ANGELES class submarine.

The name of this ship was never officially confirmed. The name was given by Admiral Watkins who wanted to return to the old tradition that attack subs should be named after animals living in the oceans. He was not authorized to do so.

Another mistake is the ship's number, SSN-21. This number was created by Vice Admiral N. Thunman. He thought that the submarine for the 21st century should be named SSN 21.  By doing so me made the that every ship's number can only be give once. The number "21" was given in 1912.

Other References

The computer game SSN-21 Seawolf, released by Electronic Arts in 1994 focuses on the USS Seawolf (SSN-21) and its engagement in several fictional campaigns.^[2]

• The adventure novel USS Seawolf by Patrick Robinson was published in May 2000.^[3]
• David Hagberg's techno-thriller By Dawn's Early Light extensively features the USS Seawolf in combat with Pakistani, Chinese, and North Korean naval forces.
• The class of boat to be commanded by Lieutenant Commander Thomas Dodge in the comedy Down Periscope as an award for winning a war game