US Navy Virginia Class Nuclear Attack Submarines

Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
John Warner served in the US Navy at the end World War II leaving as a Petty Officer 3rd Class. In 1950 he reenlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps at the outbreak of the Korean War, and served in Korea with the 1st Marine Aircraft Wing.

He was appointed Undersecretary of the Navy under the Nixon administration in 1972 and then succeeded John H. Chafee as Secretary of the Navy from May 1972 until 1974. After Ford became President, Warner was appointed to be a participant in the Law of the Sea talks, and negotiated the Incidents at Sea Executive Agreement with the Soviet Union which led to more pro-Detente Soviet-American relations.

He was then elected as a United States Senator from Virginia from January 2, 1979, to January 3, 2009. He was very involved with the Armed Services Committee, the Select Committee on Intelligence, and then on the Homeland Security Committee.

While it is not apropos for a sitting politician to receive such an honor, Warner left office in 2009 and was named after his retirement because of his involvement in the past, and really, throughout his life in service to the nation, and particularly for his naval involvement. He was born in 1927 and is now 88 years old.

The US has a history of naming capitol and other vessels for historically significant leaders. Warner is not too bad an example of this. Even though I did not like Clinton being named for an attack submarine because of his foreign policy debacles, he did serve well in the US Navy himself and did become the President.

I get the beejeevies when they name some solidly anti-American and anti-military person for ships purely out of political expediency throwing bones to "interest groups." The USNS Cesar Chavez comes to mind.

Still...we can overdo it. we need the historical names of battles and places added back to the mix.

For example, we did get the USS America back in the LHA-6...but I wish it had been named another carrier.

Anyhow...just my thoughts on the whole thing and the Warner in particular.

Would I rather see another USS Devilfish? You betcha...but we could do a whole lot worse than Warner too.
 

Brumby

Major
I recently did some basic research on submarine and propulsion systems and noted the development of pump-jet propulsion best illustrated by the following schematics :

An early design taken from a 60's study undertaken by Naval Research (since declassified)
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A much more recent representation of what it may look like
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What has gone into the Virginia class
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
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Naval Today said:
The Virginia-class fast-attack submarine USS Hawaii (SSN 776) returned to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam on March 10, after completing a deployment to the Western Pacific.

Hawaii returned home with a new second in charge, as Lt. Cmdr. Charles Phillips relieved Lt. Cmdr. Mark Robinson as executive officer of Hawaii in a pre-scheduled relief during the deployment.

During the deployment, 23 Sailors and six officers earned their designation as qualified in submarines and now wear their coveted “dolphin” warfare insignia.

Additionally, 18 Sailors advanced in rank and five Sailors were initiated into the chiefs’ mess.

During the seven-month deployment, Hawaii strengthened relations with multiple countries taking part in maritime exercises and conducted port visits to Stirling, Australia, and the cities of Yokosuka and Sasebo in Japan.

Upon her return from deployment, the “War Canoe,” as the crew calls her, sailed to the historic submarine piers of Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.
 

Air Force Brat

Brigadier
Super Moderator
"War Canoe"

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nssn-02.jpg

"War Canoe", just gotta love those sailors and their wry sense of humor?? Thinking I prolly ought to copyright my "ThunderHogge II", just wait until she starts those close air support ops???

I love "War Canoe", kinda gives you a sense that the sailors are ready to do battle if called upon, one thing I love about the US military is it corporate sense of humor, sadly being impinged upon by the "do gooders" and asexual political correctness???

Aircraft and Vessels are no doubt female, and no doubt "sexy", to deny that is to go against the most masculine and heroic of emotions, gives airmen and sailors a great deal of comfort to "know" their chick is gonna do the job, and take em home, gives them the freedom to fight that vessel/aircraft to its full potential, and creates a bond with your equipement that helps you to be "in tune", try to explain that to some "land lubber/ground pounder"???
 
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Bernard

Junior Member
Navy Wants 28 More Tomahawks on Virginia-Class Submarines
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| Monday, March 16th, 2015 11:28 pm
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is evaluating whether it can add 28 more
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to each
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sooner than expected, service leaders said.

The service plans to begin production of what’s called Virginia Payload Modules, or VPM, onto Block V submarines by 2019 — a move which would add a new section of missile tubes to the ship and increase its ability to fire Tomahawk missiles from 12 up to 40, said Navy Capt. David Goggins, Virginia-class submarine program manager.

An evaluation is currently underway to assess the feasibility of adding VPM ahead of the current schedule and engineering them onto Block IV Virginia-class submarines being built earlier than 2019. A decision is expected by next month or May, Goggins said.

Speaking to lawmakers during Congressional Navy budget hearings, Navy Secretary Ray Mabus and Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert have both indicated that deliberations about possibly accelerating VPM production were currently underway.

Navy engineers have been working on requirements and early designs for a new, 70-foot module for the Virginia-class submarines engineered to house an additional 28 Tomahawk missiles. While designed primarily to hold Tomahawks, the VPM missile tubes are engineered such that they could accommodate a new payload, new missile or even a large unmanned underwater vehicle, Navy officials said.

In 2020, the Navy plans to start retiring four large Ohio-class guided-missile submarines able to fire up to 154 Tomahawk missiles each. This will result in the Navy losing a massive amount of undersea fire power capability, Goggins explained.

From 2002 to 2008 the Navy modified four of its oldest nuclear-armed
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by turning them into ships armed with only conventional missiles – the USS Ohio, USS Michigan, USS Florida and USS Georgia. They are called SSGNs, with the “G” designation for “guided missile.”

“When the SSGNs retire in the 2020s – if no action is taken the Navy will lose about 60-percent of its undersea strike launchers. When we design and build VPM and start construction in 2019, that 60-percent shortfall will become a 40-percent shortfall in the 2028 timeframe. Over time as you build VPM you will eliminate the loss of firepower. The rationale for accelerating VPM is to potentially mitigate that 40-percent to a lower number,” Goggins explained.

Virginia-class submarines, engineered to replace the 1980s-era Los Angeles-class attack submarines, are being built in block increments. Blocks I and II, totaling 10 ships, have already been delivered to the Navy. Block III boats are currently under construction. In fact the first Block III boat, the USS North Dakota, was delivered ahead of schedule in August of last year.

The first several Block IV Virginia-class submarines are under construction as well — the USS Vermont and the USS Oregon. Last April, the Navy awarded General Dynamics’ Electric Boat and Huntington Ingalls Industries Newport News Shipbuilding a $17.6 billion deal to build 10 Block IV subs with the final boat procured in 2023.

Also, design changes to the ship, including a change in the materials used for the submarines’ propulsor, will enable Block IV boats to serve for as long as 96-months between depots visits or scheduled maintenance availabilities, Goggins explained.

As a result, the operations and maintenance costs of Block IV Virginia-class submarines will be much lower and the ships will be able to complete an additional deployment throughout their service live. This will bring the number of operational deployments for Virginia-class submarines from 14 up to 15, Goggins explained.

Blocks I and II, totaling 10 ships, have already been delivered to the Navy. All eight Block III boats are being built under a $14 billion Navy deal with General Dynamics’ Electric Boat from December of 2008.

The Block III Virginia-class subs are built with new so-called Virginia Payload Tubes designed to lower costs and increase missile-firing payload possibilities, Navy officials explained.

Instead of building what most existing Virginia-class submarines have — 12 individual 21-inch in diameter vertical launch tubes able to fire Tomahawk missiles — the Block III submarines are being built with two-larger 87-inch diameter tubes able to house six Tomahawk missiles each.

“With the Virginia Payload Modules, we’re adding a body section that will house four additional Virginia Payload Tubes. That will allow you to go from 12 to 40 Tomahawks – that is the main driver or requirement for this new module,” Goggins said.

Goggins added that Navy engineers are also working on various hydraulic pumps needed to support the additional weapons and strike capability. The new Virginia Payload Modules are being engineered to fire the Tomahawk missile and also accommodate future weapons as they emerge, he added.

“We will have the flexibility to house a range of weapons that were too big to fit in our existing VLS tubes. We have inherent flexibility. As new payloads become available and as the demand and threat environment change – we will have the flexibility to adapt future payloads,” he said.

Ultimately, the Navy plans to build as many as 20-ships with VPM, a plan that will bring production of Virginia-class submarines out through 2033 and bring the overall fleet size up to 51 ships, Goggins explained. The soon to be released 2016 Navy 30-year Shipbuilding Plan will specify the timelines for this, he added.

Since the expected service life of a Virginia-class submarine is 33 years, the ships will be expected serve well beyond 2060.

All Virginia-class submarines are also engineered with a computerized fly-by-wire touchscreen control system wherein boat operators use a joystick to navigate, unlike the mechanical hydraulic controls used on prior models.

Also, the Block III boats and beyond will also have a Large Aperture Bow array which places a conformal sonar system in the bow of the boat, Navy officials said.

“The LAB array provides improved passive listening capabilities over traditional spherical arrays employed on earlier submarines,” Rear Adm. Joseph Tofalo, director of undersea warfare, said in a written statement last year. “The LAB array includes a medium-frequency active array. The hydrophones used to determine a bearing of either incoming passive sounds or active reflected sounds are taken directly from previous design and technology advancements.”
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To go with my article about speeding up Virginia block V VPMs now they want them on the block IV sooner
 

Jeff Head

General
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To go with my article about speeding up Virginia block V VPMs now they want them on the block IV sooner

Well, if they are going to get them onto any Block IV boats, they are going to have to hurry.

A lot of lead time purchases and even assembly has already begin for the first Block IV boats.

If they interject the VPM into the Block IV boats, then you will essentially (IMHO) have a Block IV and a Block IVb division because the ones with the 70 foot VPM plug will be much different than earlier Block IV bots built without it.
 

SamuraiBlue

Captain
The 3D CAD system mentioned in the vid, CATiA is a product of Dassault Systemes, a spin off from Dassault Aviation. Catia was originally developed by Dassault Aviation to design their fighter airplanes. Now it is used not only by Dassault Aviation but also by Boeing, Airbus, Toyota, Honda, and many other manufacturers around the globe.
 
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