Seawolf-class submarine

The Seawolf class is a class of nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines in service with the United States Navy, intended as the successor to the Los Angeles class. Design work began in 1983 and a fleet of 29 boats was first planned, then reduced to 12, but the end of the Cold War and budget limits stopped the programme in 1995 at just three boats. Each cost about 3 billion dollars, making the class the most expensive American fast-attack submarine. The boats use HY-100 steel hulls to withstand greater depths, are larger, faster and quieter than the Los Angeles class, carry up to 50 Tomahawk missiles and have twice as many torpedo tubes. A single S6W reactor drives a low-noise pump-jet. USS Jimmy Carter is about 100 feet longer, with a multi-mission platform.