The
United States Navy's
Seawolf-class of
nuclear attack submarine is, at the time of this noding, the most
technologically advanced attack
sub employed by any
navy, anywhere. The whole point of a submarine is to attack with
stealth and
silence -- the
Seawolf accomplishes this feat impressively, outputting less noise while running than a standard
household appliance!
It is designed to be more maneuverable, responsive, and silent than the standard Los Angeles-class SSN, posing a greater threat to potential enemy submarines, ships and shoreline facilities in a combat situation. It can carry various types of weaponry, including the Tomahawk cruise missile, used for land attack and anti-ship warfare (which can be optionally fitted with a nuclear warhead if the need arises); the Boeing Harpoon anti-ship missile; and general purpose homing torpedoes. It is also fitted with a torpedo decoy system to repel enemy fire. One Seawolf with these armaments has the potential to destroy an entire enemy fleet undetected.
Submerged, the Seawolf can move at 35 knots (40.27 mph), with a "silent" speed of 20 knots (23.01 mph), displacing 8060 tons of water. The first of this class, USS Seawolf (SSN 21), was commissioned in 1997, with USS Connecticut (SSN 22) commissioned in 1998 and USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23), to be the final Seawolf-class SSN, currently under construction.
Source: www.naval-technology.com