[Paul_Denton]

Sorry, in litoral, confined waters like the Straits of Formosa, they would pose a credible threat. They are very quite, they are armed with modern sensor suites and weapons, including cruise missiles, and they would have significant land based air support. We cannot underestimate them. A bunch of them are the very latest Russian Kilo designs and they are building their own as well.

The Virginia-class is also built with littoral combat in mind while still retaining deep-water capabilility.

[Jeff Head]

Understood...but its size and the reactor itself (no matter how you cut it, a reactor is still inherantently louder than batteries) will restrict its overall effectiveness in the littoral regions IMHO. Too expensive, too big, and too capable to risk sending in there IMHO, we need our own diesel electrics in my view.