Navy’s stealthy Columbia subs set to launch first patrol in 2031

[Onkel Neal]

Designed to be 560-feet– long and house 16 Trident II D5 missiles fired from 44-foot-long missile tubes, Columbia-class submarines will use a quieting X-shaped stern configuration.’

The “X”-shaped stern will restore maneuverability to submarines; as submarine designs progressed from using a propeller to using a propulsor to improve quieting, submarines lost some surface maneuverability, Navy officials explained.

This and there are some other significant design changes from years of US nuke subs. Interesting.

https://www.foxnews.com/tech/navys-stealthy-columbia-subs-set-to-launch-first-patrol-in-2031-with-a-new-missile-variant

https://www.gao.gov/extracts/1af5d157a65e362e3e7e23fe0b185e8c/rId15_image5.png

[Mr Quatro]

I'm sure they know what they are doing better than I do, but that topside sail sure looks too far forward ... I hope they can come up with a drone with wings that fold on top of the periscope too :yep:

A drone could look fwd for 300 miles and report back before heading home like a messenger pigeon in WWI (unless the enemy could capture the drone that is) :o