[neversweat]

I suspect the 'funkey blisters' are side-looking sonar domes. In the sixties we were playing with 3D sonar that could display weld beads on a hull. I can imagine what they have today.

Those 'funky fins' are for finer control in high speed turns. A boat this fast will bank in a turn just like an airplane.

I don't see a lateral thruster, but I do see a bow plane. The boats I was on (35 years ago) had an 'outboard motor' that extended from the keel for lateral thrust.

The old BB's have been obsolete for a lot of years. The new 'fast attacks' are replacing that role which may have something to do with naming them after states. The boats I was on were 'boomers' named after dead presidents. They were the biggest submersibles we had in those days. The Russians had bigger, but even my boats seemed almost as big as the Missouri when she tied up across the pier one time. The Texas would dwarf those boats, and I suspect even the Missouri.

[Txslady]

http://www.usstexasbb35.com/ssn_775.htm

:o)

[bondjamesbond]

I was having a 3-D perception problem with the diving planes, and they looked like a thruster to me. That explains it.

Retractable, huh? This sub is going to have an interesting life, methinks...

[El Gato]

The boats I was on were 'boomers' named after dead presidents. They were the biggest submersibles we had in those days. The Russians had bigger, but even my boats seemed almost as big as the Missouri when she tied up across the pier one time. The Texas would dwarf those boats, and I suspect even the Missouri..

Actually the Virginia class is much smaller than the Ohios and Typhoons, about the same size as the Los Angeles class and your old "Dead Presidents" boats. Although not all were Presidents, one was the Robert E. Lee SSBN 600. Imagine trying to name a boat that today!.

length x beam
Missouri 394 x 72 feet.
Theodore Roosevelt 382 X 33 feet
Ohio 560 x 42 feet
Los Angeles 360 x 33 feet
SeaWolf 353 x 35 feet
Virginia 377 x 32 feet