Virginia Setting New Standards In U.S. Submarine Annals

Since 07-20-04

From NSL UPDATE 06-21-2004

Virginia Setting New Standards In U.S. Submarine Annals
By Robert A. Hamilton, New London Day, 11 Jun 04 Used with permission

Alexandria, Va. -- Some first-of-a-class submarines have been delivered up to 30 months behind schedule, but when the Virginia is turned over to the Navy this fall, it will be just weeks behind a schedule set seven years ago.

The Virginia was developed at Electric Boat in Groton under a new process that involved in its design the people who would build, operate and maintain it.

Consequently, it has been finished with 85 percent fewer change orders than the Seawolf class that preceded it. The number of contract changes has shrunk from 7,000 to 500, said Rear Adm. John Butler, the Navy's program executive officer for submarines.

Because the process has encountered fewer problems, it is sticking closer to its construction schedule.

Perhaps most important, said Adm. Frank L. "Skip" Bowman, is that the Virginia is a warship designed for the 21st century, "our Navy's only major combatant ready for delivery to the fleet that was designed with the post-Cold War environment in mind."

He said when the operational requirements document for Virginia was approved by the Joint Requirements Oversight Council in 1993 and revalidated in 1995, it called for a submarine that could quickly surge to remote areas, stay covert for extended periods of surveillance, operate in near-shore areas and quickly adapt to new missions.

Though written eight years before the al-Qaida attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the description is exactly what is needed for the global war on terror, Bowman said.

"There were some prescient folks around, some prophetic folks around, 10 or 12 years ago," Bowman said. "We need the Virginia class today, for tomorrow's missions."

Virginia's torpedo room can be quickly modified to provide up to 1,800 cubic feet of free space, an enormous volume by submarine standards. The space can be used for gear to fight the war on terror -- gear that has not even been developed yet, Bowman noted.

Its specialized sonar will make it the best submarine available to fight in shallow water, to avoid mines and other ships in the cluttered littorals, Bowman said. It has new masts that can be used to mount sensors in less than a day, and future ships of the class will have a "plug and play" module that will allow for quick equipment changes.

Virginia also has modifications that will make it even harder to detect than a Seawolf-class submarine, previously considered the quietest in the world.

Because Virginia represents such a leap ahead in submarine warfare, Bowman said it is irritating to hear it referred to as a Cold War leftover.

"The idea that the submarine community is constantly searching for its niche, searching for a mission, is kind of dispelled by the fact that (the operational requirements document) was signed back then, and we were tasked to build the submarine this way," Bowman said.