The reason we (the West) never built one it not because we couldn't, it was because there was no reason to, tactically, and because we did not have access to enough titanium.
As I have said here before, having the ability to dive deep is of very limited value. Generally, based on 90% of the water in the world you are going to evade an incoming weapon shallow.
Being able to go really fast has some uses, mainly for weapon evasion, but due to the Alpha's radiated noise levels at anything above 10kts, it just makes it easier to track.
Back in the last 80's, the US Navy put a five bladed screw on the USS Groton. She did 41kts, but was noisy as hell.
|