Bronco NB5001 USS SSN 21/22 Seawolf Class Attack Submarine

Seawolf (another designation: type SSN-21) is the name of the American nuclear powered fighter submarine (SSN) class. Units of this type were built in 1989-2005. In total, only 3 units of this type were built. The Seawolf-class ship is 107.6 meters long, 12.2 meters wide, and has a displacement of approximately 9,300 tons. The maximum underwater speed is approx. 35 knots. The ship of this type is equipped with eight 650 mm torpedo tubes.

The Seawolf-class ships were developed and put into production as a completely new structure, intended to first complement and later replace the Los Angeles-class ships (also of the 688i). Units of this type were planned as highly specialized fighter ships, designed to fight Soviet submarines in their home waters. In order to carry out such ambitious tasks, when designing Seawolf class ships, great emphasis was placed on soundproofing them, the greatest possible immersion depth thanks to the use of HY-100 steel and considerable underwater speed clearly exceeding 30 knots. In addition, ships of this class received excellent electronic and hydroacoustic equipment, almost certainly far superior to the solutions used on the then Soviet ships. However, such strict standards resulted in the creation of probably the best fighter ships in the world, but the cost of which significantly exceeded the initial assumptions, and the estimated price for one ship of this class - depending on the methodology - is given between 3 and 3.5 billion dollars, which makes it is the most expensive ship of its type in the world! High production costs as well as the end of the Cold War led to the launch of only three units of this type.