The symbol of the US dominance on the seas is its big surface fleet gathering around
the aircraft carriers. Yet, since the Second World War, the silent heroes, submarines have
been very important players of this game. Now, the US Navy is preparing for the Second
Cold War, with its new Virginia-class submarines. Thanks to its successful design and innovative
technologies they are fearful opponent for naval rivals of the USA. As the Weapon Detective,
we are investigating Virginia-class submarines.
The Virginia-class are designed to replace older Los Angeles-class which has been backbone
of the US attack submarine fleet since 1970s. It is effective in both oceans and littorals.
The submarine can be used for anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare, land attack,
intelligence gathering, and special operation missions.
Actually, when the Soviet Navy had changed the balance in the area of the submarines
with highly capable Alfa, Akula, and Sierra-classes,
the US Navy started working on Seawolf-class, in 1983 as the successor of the Los Angeles-class.
the USA planned to built at least 29 Seawolf-classes over a ten-year period, but the number was
reduced to 12, because of their high prices. The end of the First Cold War caused further
reduction, and only three boats ever built.
In 1991, the US Navy started developing new submarine under the Centurion Study Programme.
As the fruit of this programme Virginia-class is less expensive alternative to the Seawolf-class.
The submarine was the first US Navy warships designed with the help of the computer-aided
design and visualization technology.
As the first of its class, USS Virginia was laid down on 2 September 1999, launched on
16 August 2003, and commissioned on 23 October 2004.
First four boats, defined as Block I, were built in 10 modules with each submarine. Six
Block II Virginia-class submarines were built in four sections rather than ten sections
to reduce costs. Different from their predecessors, the Block
III submarines have two multipurpose Virginia Payload Tubes. These tubes replaced the dozen
single purpose cruise missile launch tubes of Block I and IIs. The other difference of
the Block IIIs their horseshoe-shaped Large Aperture Bow sonar array. This sonar replaces
the spherical main sonar array which has been used on all US Navy submarines since 1960.
The spherical main sonar array was air-backed. The Large Aperture Bow sonar array which consists
of a passive array and a medium-frequency active array, is water-backed.
In 2014, the US Navy ordered 10 Block IV Virginia-class boats. Thanks to experience comes from first
three Blocks, the new submarines can be deployed longer time between major maintenance periods.
The latest version of the Virginia-class is the Block V. The first boat of this version,
USS Oklahoma was authorized for construction on 2 December 2019. The Block V submarines
will have an additional Virginia Payload Module mid-body section, so they will be 25 metres
longer and 2400 tons heavier than their predecessors. They will be able to carry 40 Tomahawk cruise
missiles instead of 12.
The US Navy is planning to have 10 Block V Virginia-class to replace four Ohio-class
nuclear cruise missile submarines which will be decommissioned in next ten years.
The Virginia-class submarines have 114.8 metres length, 10.4 metres beam, 6,390 tons surfaced,
and 7,800 tons submerged displacement. The crew consists of 14 officers and 120 enlisted
men. The submarine can reach 25 knot speed on surface and 34 knot speed underwater. It
can launch Mk 48 torpedoes and Sub-Harpoon missile from its four 533mm torpedo tubes.
Each submarine is projected to make 14-15 deployments during its 33-year service life.
The Virginia-class can dive 490 metres depth.
There are many innovative technologies on the Virginia-class. First of all, they are
equipped with photonic mast instead of a traditional periscope.
This type of masts is already used on British Astute-class nuclear attack and Japanese Sōryū-class
diesel-electric patrol submarines besides the Virginias.
The photonic mast does not penetrate the pressure hull. So, while the structural integrity of
the pressure hull is increased the risk of flooding is reduced. Thanks to photonic mast,
submarine's control room can be located anywhere inside the pressure hull. While in the traditional
periscope design, the control room must be below the sail. On the photonic masts of Virginia-class,
there are high-resolution cameras, along with light-intensification and infrared sensors,
an infrared laser rangefinder, and an integrated Electronic Support Measures array.
But this design has a serious handicap. The mast is the only exposed part of the submarine
when it submerged. So, an observer could detect the submarine’s class by shape of the its
masts.
For the Virginia-class boats, this is much easier, because the visual appearance of their
photonics masts so different from the ordinary periscopes. To prevent this handicap, the
US Navy decided replacing current photonic masts with Low-Profile Photonics Masts which
resemble traditional submarine periscopes more closely. It is also considered that Virginia-class
submarine will be equipped with the mast which provides 360-degree view without necessity
of rotation. The eight masts of the Virginia-class boats
have been unified in a Universal Modular Mast programme. It means all masts shared components
have been maximized and some design choices are also shared.
The pump-jet propulsors of the Virginia-class, assure the performance of the submarine in
both oceans and the littorals. They also make the boats more silent.
The conventional blade propulsors produce steam bubbles because of frictional heat when
they rotate at high speed. When these bubbles pup, they make noise. It is called cavitation.
The pump-jet reduces the risks of cavitation significantly.
To reduce noise trace, the pressured hull and the sail of the submarine are coated with
special materials.
As you know, the hardware and software of electronics systems become obsolete in very
short period. Because of that the people changes their smart phones with the advanced models
in a couple years, and the application are upgraded constantly.
Likewise, hardware upgrades are generally carried out every four years, while software
updates are carried out every two years for the submarines by the US Navy. So, the designer
of the Virginia-class preferred Open System Architecture for Sonar arrays aboard boat.
Thus, new hardware and software can be inserted rapidly and easily as they become available.
It is planned to replace electro-hydraulic systems for control surface actuation with
fibre optic fly-by-wire Ship Control System.
One of the other planned innovative upgrades for the Virginia-class is the high-energy
laser weapon installation. Some surface ships of the US Navy are already equipped with this
kind of weapon for test purpose.
If the Virginia-class submarine would have laser weapon, it could change the future of
the anti-submarine warfare.
The modern submarines are very capable opponents of the surface combatants. They are hard to
detect and deadly with sophisticated sensors as well as long range torpedoes and missiles.
So, today the main submarine hunters are not destroyers and frigates, but their helicopters.
Because the current submarines do not have any effective weapon against air target.
But a submarine which has a laser weapon on its mast, could shoot down a helicopter while
it is still submerged. At least it would force the air target to cut its dipping sonar and
flee.
A high-energy laser weapon needs powerful energy source. The 30-Megawatt S9G nuclear
reactor of the Virginia-class boat can provide this energy.
With its technological achievements, the Virginia-class will affect the future submarine design. It
is estimated that the last submarine of the class would be decommissioned in 2070s. So,
these boats will be main US actors in underwater front of the Second Cold War for next 50 years.
Thanks for watching our new video.