Posted on 08/05/2015 2:44:42 PM PDT by george76
It's 7,800 tons, 337 feet and $2 billion worth of steel and stealth, with war-fighting controls that look like a big arcade video game.
That new-boat smell may have worn off a bit during sea trials, but the man in charge was pumped with pride as the U.S. Navy's newest submarine joined the fleet in a commissioning ceremony at Norfolk Naval Station on Saturday.
The shiniest and coolest thing I've ever seen in my military career," Cmdr. Daniel Caldwell, a 22-year Navy veteran and the first captain of the USS John Warner, told CNN. "It's going to make whatever I do next anti-climactic."
Remember those old war movies with a captain looking through a periscope and calling out coordinates for a torpedo attack? Well, this ain't that sub.
For one, it doesn't even have a periscope. Instead, the John Warner will go about its business using a photonic mast, a piece of electronic wizardry that includes high-definition and infrared video to enable the Warner, the 12th in the Virginia class of attack submarines, to see and to not been seen like nothing else under the seas.
...
In front of that is where two sailors drive the sub, like a pilot and co-pilot seated before a curved wall of video screens. Driving a sub used to take a crew of four, Caldwell said, but technology has cut that number in half.
The John Warner is armed with 12 Tomahawk cruise missiles that are launched from two huge bays at the front of the boat, sort of like the chambers in a revolver, as well as MK48 torpedoes that are fired from four tubes, two on each side of the ship.
...
The Navy has won praise for keeping the Virginia class on budget while delivering two subs a year.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Well, somebody has to ask. I didn’t see anything in the article about “wimmen” on board. Don’t shoot the messenger.
That is American exceptionalism to be proud of! Truly an arm of diplomacy.
On budget and on time? I thought that was impossible.
IOW mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm........could be!
What about SUBROC. I like SUBROC.
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