[Popman]

Why?..they're all modular construction....just cut off the nose section..add a new one.

I don't know jack about submarine construction, but I seriously doubt these subs are built with a modular design concept.

The bulk head is probably modular for safety reasons, but the guts are probably integrated assembly.

Of course I could be 100% wrong.

[Robert A Cook PE]

The "circles" of the pressure hull fames , and "some" of the internal eqpt and suspended platforms are capable of being pre-fabbed on these old 688's, more on the newer class of boats.

Once the boat is together, it's all hand-carried piece by piece by piece by nut and bolt and wire and connector: bigger parts go in suspended by chainfall to chainfall.

[IonImplantGuru]

I don't know jack about submarine construction, but I seriously doubt these subs are built with a modular design concept. The bulk head is probably modular for safety reasons, but the guts are probably integrated assembly. Of course I could be 100% wrong.

How does 50% sound? The LA class boats were built 'the old-fashioned' way; the pressure hull itself was a series of cylinders welded together with bulkheads installed as approriate, and equipment installed as one went along.

The newer Virginia class boats are built modularly with, say, compartment 'A' built at EB in Groton and shipped down to Norfolk to be joined up to compartment 'B' at Newport-News.