NAVYPEDIA

Photo

Seawolf 1977

Ships

No	Name	Yard No	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Comm	Fate
SSN575	Seawolf	141	Electric Boat, Groton	15.9.1953	21.7.1955	30.3.1957	stricken 7.1987

Technical data

Displacement standard, t
Displacement normal, t	3741 / 4287
Length, m	102.9
Breadth, m	8.40
Draught, m	6.70
No of shafts	2
Machinery	2 sets General Electric geared steam turbines, 1 Westinghouse SIR Mk II (re-designated S2G) nuclear reactor
Power, h. p.	15000
Max speed, kts	19 / 20+
Fuel, t	nuclear
Endurance, nm(kts)	practically unlimited
Armament	6 - 533 Mk 51 TT (bow, 22)
Electronic equipment	BPS-12 radar, BQS-4, BQR-4A sonars, BLR-1 ECM suite
Complement	105
Diving depth operational, m	210

Standard scale images

Graphics

Project history

Nautilus and Seawolf were  built under the FY52 programme, these were the prototype US nuclear submarines, Nautilus being by far the more successful of the two. Seawolf was designed around the S2G sodium-cooled reactor, intended as a back-up to the S2W, but abandoned because of operational problems and replaced by an S2Wa in 1959. From 1969 she has been used for research, with four bow thrusters above her pressure hull (two forward and two aft) for precise manoeuvring, and provision for a DSRV research vehicle to be mated to her aft. Seawolf also had the last conning tower in a US submarine, within her stepped fin, as later submarines have only a bridge access trunk in their fin.

In 1991 it was reported that Seawolf had actually been used for intelligence-gathering, presumably launching a submersible (the thrusters would have been valuable for precise positioning).

Modernizations

(12/1958-9/1960, Electric Boat, Groton): S2G reactor was replaced by S2Wa (15000hp).

1960s: - BPS-12 radar, BLR-1 ECM suite; + BPS-15 radar, WLR-1 ECM suite

1969: - BQS-4 sonar; + provision for DSRV, SQS-51 sonar, 4 side-thruster fore and aft

Naval service

No significant events.