submarines

the english submarine in the picture is not VLS capable..not surprising as the VLS system adds significant weight and of course huge costs to build and maintain. The USA and the BRits have cooperated on submariine design and weaponry for years. American Submarines have been ported out of BRit soil and operated with British fleets in cooperative exercises. Most of what we have in America the Brits have or have access to. Its simply a matter of what works and of course the ultimate decision is how much it costs. In both countrys ...costs are becoming prohibitive.
The Jimmy Carter pictured is as stated the last of the Sea Wolf submarines. The costs of the Sea Wolf program has been huge..the boats are complex and also very costly to maintain. They spend alot of their time on the piers broken...and in the trades are known as "Pier Wolf's". I cannot speak for the Jimmy Carter as to whether they have rectified many of these problems but this applies to the first two..of the Sea Wolf class boats.
Construction and maintnence costs are begining to tell..on many nations operating fleets of any kind and therefore dictate the features on their ships and boats for which a nation is willing to pay. Budgets are getting very tight.
I have been hearing that the US Navy is studying AIP technology for submarines. I am not sure as to whether they are considering building conventional submarines again or sticking to the nuclear propulsion. I do know that in the US submarine field thier is a hard core cadre who are dedicated to nuclear propulsion for obvious reasons but this option is very very expensive as stated previously and costs are becoming a huge factor in future designs. They would be foolish not to explore every option.
However ..with rising costs all across the technology field..I suspect that many nations , while looking into high tech , are also taking into consideration the keep it simple stupid...option (KISS)
The Virginia Class submarines, while expensive, are obviously a attempt to keep the best of the Sea Wolf class and the Los Angeles class submarines in play. This is becoming diffiult against a inflated dollar and construction and operational expenses. This same trend is happening in many nations. This is obvious to me when looking at the new British design mentioned in the article above...Orangetom

What the hell are you talking about???

What pictures?

My apologies..
I must have hit the new topic button by m istake meaning to hit the reply. As I recall the picture on one of the boards was of the new Astute or such ..submarines being built for the Brits.
I am new to this forum and need practice in getting my posts to the right board..sorry about that. Orangetom

I'm sure you'll get to grips with the board soon enough.

Welcome to the board BTW - Stick with it and you'll love it

Wow..your fast..you must have this board on your priority list.
Ive seen your postings on quite a number of of the boards in this room.
Very intresting posts you and others make. Lots of food for thought and greatly appreciated here. Yes, I find this board very intresting and not the standard bill of fare that occupies much of the public looking for entertainment. I would rather be mused than amused...thinking than without thinking. Thanks for the welcome.
Orangetom

The USN is considering AIP technology to build some subs that will be useful in brown water as most of the worlds navy's only have brown water capability.
But the USN is not eliminating the Nuclear subs they just want to even out the number of AIP subs with nuclear subs and not have only one type.