Submarines in the 21st Century
The primary mission of the U.S. Submarine Force after World War II was to deter the Soviet Union from nuclear and conventional war.  The end of the Cold War has marked a surge of regional conflicts, which has driven the Submarine Force to greatly expand its mission focus while still serving as our nation's greatest deterrence to global nuclear war.
General Characteristics, Virginia class

Builders: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division and Newport News Shipbuilding.
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Length: 377 feet (114.91 meters)
Beam: 34 feet (10.36 meters)
Displacement: Approx. 7,800 tons (7,925.18 metric tons)
Speed: 25+ knots (28+ miles per hour, 46.3+ kph)
Crew: 134 Officers and Enlisted
Armament: Tomahawk cruise missiles, VLS tubes, MK-48 ADCAP torpedoes, advanced mobile mines, and unmanned undersea vehicles.

Ships:
USS Virginia (SSN 774)
USS Texas (SSN 775)
USS Hawaii (SSN 776)
USS North Carolina (SSN 777)
Submarines in an Era of Regional Conflict
U.S. military force level reductions have placed an increased premium on timely and accurate intelligence on potential trouble spots. Submariners, utilizing skills honed during the Cold War, contribute substantially to this mission requirement by conducting Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance missions against a variety of current and potential future adversaries.

Submarines are superb intelligence collection assets because their stealth and ability to remain on station for long periods of time often defeat a potential adversary's attempt to deny or deceive intelligence collection efforts.
U.S.  submarines provide America's decision-makers with powerful offensive capabilities, should U.S. military force be required.  U.S. submarines operate autonomously in the world's coastal regions where the submarines' mine warfare, and anti-submarine warfare remains a key component of our Navy's capability to operate FORWARD . . . FROM THE SEA.  For example, submarines have become increasingly important to the U.S. Navy's land attack precision strike capability.  Since we first launched Tomahawks during Operation Desert Storm, the submarines contribution to the overall Tomahawk strike effort has increased as a percentage of that overall.  In Desert Storm, submarines launched 5 percent of the Tomahawks fired.  However, during Operation Allied Force in Kosovo, submarines fired nearly 25 percent of the Tomahawks launched against Serbian targets.

21st Century Warfare

The 21st Century promises new challenges and opportunities for U.S. submarines.  New technologies such as unmanned undersea vehicles (UUVs), being developed for reconnaissance and mine warfare missions, hold the potential to vastly improve a submarine's mission capability.  New communications capabilities mated with submarine-launched unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could result in U.S. submarines independently detecting and destroying targets far inland.  Stealthy mini-subs, like the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) will launch from our attack submarines and take Special Forces teams hundreds of miles to their landing sites.
Because the submarine can get in close to the action they can capture signals or observe events that are too elusive or enveloped in background noise for our satellites to detect.  The intelligence gained by submarines enable us to understand an adversary's military capabilities, allows U.S. policy makers the ability to anticipate hostilities and thereby aids in diplomatic efforts.

Due to the large number of post Cold War hot spots, the number of submarine Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance missions, tasked to U.S. submarines by the National Command Authority and joint military commanders, has doubled since 1989 --despite nearly a 50 percent reduction of the numbers of submarines.
Virginia class Submarines

Scheduled for delivery in 2004, the VIRGINIA class submarine is designed for 21st century warfare.  They will replace the aging LOS ANGELES class submarines slated to retire in the early 21st century.  VIRGINIA class submarines have been designed to dominate the coastal regions while maintaining the U.S. preeminence in the open ocean.  Design features include: 12 VLS tubes and 4 Torpedo tubes for a capability of launching 16 Tomahawk missile salvos.  The VIRGINIA class also incorporated advanced sonar sensors for ASW and mine warfare.  The torpedo room has been modified so as to re-configure for special missions.  The submarine will carry the Advanced SEAL Delivery System (ASDS) and incorporates a nine-man lockout trunk to enable rapid delivery of special operations forces. To better support reconnaissance missions, the VIRGINIA class submarine is specifically designed for launching unmanned underwater or aerial vehicles (UUVs/UAVs).  The VIRGINIA class submarine will also incorporate enhanced acoustic and non-acoustic stealth capabilities along with state-of-the-art communications and Electronic Support Measures (ESM) equipment.
General Characteristics, Seawolf class

Builders: General Dynamics Electric Boat Division.
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Length: 353 feet (107.6 meters)
Draft: 35 feet (10.67 meters)
Beam: 40 feet (12.2 meters)
Displacement: 8,060 tons (8,189.35 metric tons) surfaced; 9,150 tons (9,296.84 metric tons) submerged
Speed: 25+ knots (28+ miles per hour, 46.3+ kph)
Armament: Tomahawk missiles, MK-48 torpedoes, eight torpedo tubes
Crew: 13 Officers, 121 Enlisted

Ships:
USS Seawolf (SSN 21), Groton, Ct.
USS Connecticut (SSN 22), Groton, Ct.
USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23)
Seawolf class Submarines

During the height of the Cold War, the U.S. Navy began building the SEAWOLF class attack submarine.  They are by far the fastest, quietest, and most heavily armed attack submarines in the world. The first of the class, USS SEAWOLF (SSN-21) was commissioned in September 1996.  The second ship of the class, USS CONNECTICUT (SSN-22), was commissioned in December 1998.  In 1992, following the end of the Cold War, the class was truncated to only three ships in order to pave the way for a more affordable class of submarine --the VIRGINIA (SSN-774) class attack submarine.   The third SEAWOLF class submarine, USS JIMMY CARTER (SSN-23) is still under construction and is scheduled to be commissioned in late 2003.  The SEAWOLF class was engineered for maximum design flexibility and is able to incorporate new technologies as they are developed.  They are designed to dominate the battle space across a broad spectrum of warfare missions in the littoral and open ocean areas. 
General Characteristics, Los Angeles (Improved) 688-I class

Builders: Newport News Shipbuilding Co.; General Dynamics Electric Boat Division.
Power Plant: One nuclear reactor, one shaft
Length: 362 feet
Beam: 33 feet
Displacement: Approx. 7,147 tons (7185 metric tons) submerged
Speed: 25+ knots
Crew: 13 Officers, 121 Enlisted
Armament: 12 VLS tubes, four 21-inch torpedo tubes; MK-48 ADCAP torpedoes, Tomahawk cruise missiles, mines.

Ships:
USS San Juan (SSN 751), Portsmouth, NH.
USS Pasadena (SSN 752), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Albany (SSN 753), Norfolk, Va.
USS Topeka (SSN 754), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Miami (SSN 755), Groton, Conn.
USS Scranton (SSN 756), Norfolk, Va.
USS Alexandria (SSN 757), Groton, Conn.
USS Asheville (SSN 758), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Jefferson City (SSN 759), San Diego, Calif.
USS Annapolis (SSN 760), Groton, Conn.
USS Springfield (SSN 761), Groton, Conn.
USS Columbus (SSN 762), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Santa Fe (SSN 763), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Boise (SSN 764), Norfolk, Va.
USS Montpelier (SSN 765), Norfolk, Va.
USS Charlotte (SSN 766), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
USS Hampton (SSN 767), Norfolk, Va.
USS Hartford (SSN 768), Groton, Conn.
USS Toledo (SSN 769), Groton, Conn.
USS Tucson (SSN 770), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Columbia (SSN 771), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Greeneville (SSN 772), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii
USS Cheyenne (SSN 773), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

Los Angeles (Improved) 688-I class Submarines

Twenty-three of the newer "Improved 688's" will continue to serve as the backbone of the U.S. Navy's attack submarine force well into the 2010s. 
Related Pages
Long term trends in warfare indicate that the value of submarine stealth is likely to increase in the 21st century. Well-operated submarines are not threatened by increasingly powerful missiles, weapons of mass destruction, and other treats to expeditionary forces which are expected to proliferate in the 21st Century.  Since adversaries cannot reliably detect the presence of submarines, U.S. submarines can operate in heavily defended areas, detecting, reporting, and destroying any threats to U.S. forces.

The submarine's contribution to U.S. national security, already significant during their first century of service, is likely to grow more important in an era where long-range precision strike capabilities, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and other asymmetric threats to U.S. forces exist.
Submarines of the Future . . . Today