With the disappearance of the Cold War confrontation, the U.S. Navy's attacking nuclear submarines lost their former Soviet counterparts in the depths of the ocean, so their main tasks also changed. Under the new situation, the main tasks entrusted by the US Navy to attack nuclear submarines are to deal with regional wars, attack land targets and coastal anti-submarine warfare with submarine-launched missiles, support special forces and directly support aircraft carrier combat formations. Therefore, after the end of the Cold War, the design idea of the US Navy attacking nuclear submarines is mainly multi-functional and multi-purpose. After the cold war, the new attack nuclear submarine will not only keep the original quiet during the cold war, but also take the underwater high-speed and deep diving ability as its basic goal.
At the same time, when the US Navy began to implement the strategy of "deploying from the sea to the land and deploying at the forefront", the SSN-2 1 "Sea Wolf" class was too large and extravagant in the new situation. Therefore, the navy hopes to develop a multi-purpose attack nuclear submarine with smaller displacement, better economy, better performance and wider use than the "Sea Wolf" class submarine, so as to replace the "Los Angeles" class submarine that will be retired in the next century.
Under this circumstance, the US Navy began to rapidly revise the performance indicators of the "100-person captain" class nuclear submarine formulated during the Cold War. 1992 65438+ 10, the authorities concerned, after consulting with the commanders of the U.S navy fleet and submarines, thought that the "100-man captain" class attack nuclear submarine should no longer be used as a follow-up boat or a substitute boat for the "Sea Wolf" class nuclear submarine, but should become an attack nuclear submarine to meet the new environmental requirements after the end of the Cold War. Therefore, a series of demand indicators were revised, and on this basis, a new type of attack submarine "Centurion" (NSSN) was launched.
The design of "new attack nuclear submarine" embodies the principle of best cost performance. It is a submarine with high performance and low price. It can deal with all kinds of threats from the enemy, not only for traditional ocean-going anti-submarine and anti-ship operations, but also for various operations in shallow water combat environment, including offensive/defensive mine laying, mine clearance, delivery/withdrawal of special forces (advanced frogman transportation system planning in the United States), support for aircraft carrier battle formation and intelligence gathering. 199 1 year, the us navy began the demonstration and design of SSN774 nuclear submarine. 1996, the us navy signed the first batch of six nuclear submarines of this type, which were developed by the electric ship department of general dynamics company. The development cost is $745 million, which is the largest single-batch submarine production contract in the history of the US Navy. It will sign construction work every year and buy in bulk. The US Navy will order 30 ships in three batches (later reduced to 10), the first batch of 9 ships (SSN-774~782), the second batch of 10 ships (SSN-783~792) and the third batch of1/kloc-0. The US Navy hopes that the new nuclear submarine will achieve the same mission capability as the original "Los Angeles" class submarine with the most advanced technology and the least number of constructions. Compared with the alternative "Sea Wolf" class, the number of the new submarine returned to the normal orbit, followed by the "Los Angeles" class, and the name was changed to the "Virginia" class, the national name used by ballistic missile submarines in the past. In this regard, the "Virginia" class of the new generation of American attack nuclear submarines finally "however, before she set off for us, we called a thousand times and urged a thousand times."