Well it's not combat conditions, but the Gotland has certainly got enough eyebrows raised in the US Navy - enough to lease her for two years. I'd say that's a pretty big mark of approval on her from the most capable navy in the world.
Otherwise any notion of 'best' is always tricky - you can't ever come up with an inarguable definition of that. The only one you can defend is 'most successful', and in that sense no current-generation combat sub can be called 'most successful'. Nobody's subs have really scored in any actual ASW or ASuW combat as of late.
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