The U.S. Navy's Seawolf-class attack nuclear submarine, the No. 2 Connecticut, accidentally hit an unknown object while sailing in the Paracel waters of the South China Sea in recent days, causing serious damage to the hull and having to float and return to the Guam base in a surface state, and 11 people were allegedly injured. The "Seawolf" class is currently the most technologically advanced attack nuclear submarine in the United States, and even the current mass-produced "Virginia" class can only be regarded as a "cheap version" of the Seawolf class nuclear submarine, so how did such an advanced nuclear submarine happen?
The Seawolf-class attack submarine was the last attack submarine developed by the U.S. Navy in the Cold War, but by the time it was installed, the Cold War was over, so the number of Seawolf-class nuclear submarines was eventually reduced to 3. But this does not mean that the Performance of the Seawolf-class submarines is insufficient, on the contrary, the Seawolf-class nuclear submarines are a very unique type of attack nuclear submarine. Before the emergence of the Seawolf class, the United States attack nuclear submarines have been pursuing multi-purpose performance, taking the Los Angeles class nuclear submarines as an example, in addition to the traditional anti-submarine, anti-ship, reconnaissance, sabotage and other combat capabilities, the submarine is also equipped with vertically launched "Tomahawk" cruise missiles, which can perform long-range precision strike missions to the ground, and can also carry SEALs to perform infiltration missions.
Unlike the Seawolf class, the Seawolf class was designed specifically for hunting Soviet nuclear submarines, so the Seawolf class nuclear submarines were not equipped with a missile vertical launch system and could not use long-range ground-strike cruise missiles such as tomahawks. However, the Seawolf class designed 8 torpedo tubes, more than twice the Los Angeles class (4), and the number of torpedoes, anti-submarine missiles and other weapons carried by the Seawolf class increased to 50 pieces, greatly exceeding the level of los Angeles-class nuclear submarines, with long-term underwater continuous combat capabilities, which are specially designed for anti-submarine warfare.
At the same time, the Seawolf class also applies the most advanced shock absorption floating raft technology, and the sound suppression tiles on the outside of the hull are attached, and its noise level is lower than the ocean background noise, even with sensitive passive sonar, it is difficult to detect the lurking Seawolf class nuclear submarine. The Seawolf-class nuclear submarine replaced the earlier propeller with a new pump-jet propulsion system, which further reduced the noise. In order to perform anti-submarine warfare, the Seawolf-class nuclear submarines also use a new HY-100 type high-strength alloy steel hull, so that they dive to a depth of more than 610 meters (2,000 feet) and have a strong lurking ability.
The Seawolf class is the U.S. Navy's first and only attack nuclear submarine with anti-submarine as its primary combat mission, and its design focus can be known from its sacrificial multi-purpose combat performance. It is precisely because the Seawolf class is too specialized in anti-submarine, so its manufacturing cost is extremely high, the construction cost of a single ship is more than 3 billion US dollars, almost the same level as the US aircraft carrier, and its multi-purpose performance is relatively limited, so the US military quickly developed the "Virginia" class attack nuclear submarine after the Cold War to replace the Seawolf class.
The accident of the Seawolf class 2 connecticut in the waters near the Paracels can be speculated to have hit an unmarked reef on the seabed. This is because the Underwater displacement of the Connecticut is as high as 9142 tons, such a big guy who is close to ten thousand tons, even if it hits something like a whale, unmanned submersible or a cage, is limited by the principle of conservation of momentum, these things cannot knock the Connecticut to the surface, only the submarine reef has this possibility. And connecticut sailing in the Paracel sea, which belongs to China's economic exclusive zone, the US nuclear submarine here naturally has to sneak action, so it is difficult to effectively find the underwater reef with passive sonar alone, and the Connecticut does not dare to use active sonar, so it is not surprising to hit the reef.
It is not difficult to see from the fact that the Connecticut hit the reef that even the technologically advanced US nuclear submarines, sailing in unfamiliar waters, cannot guarantee that the underwater navigation is foolproof, and the underwater "collision" of the US nuclear submarine is not the first time, and it is not too much to say "blind wolf".