Career
Awarded:	January 9 1989
Laid down:	25 October 1989
Launched:	June 24 1995
Commissioned:	July 19 1997
Fate:
Homeport:	Groton, Connecticut
General Characteristics
Displacement:	7568 tons light, 9137 tons full, 1569 tons dead
Length:	353 ft (108 m)
Beam:	40 ft (12.2 m)
Draft:	36 ft (11.0 m)
Propulsion:	One S6W reactor
Speed:	35 knots (65 km/h) submerged, 20 knots (37 km/h) silent
Complement:	15 officers and 101 men
Armament:	eight 26-inch (660 mm) torpedo tubes, 50 torpedoes and missiles, or 100 mines
Maximum Depth:	Greater than 800ft

USS Seawolf (SSN-21), the lead ship of her class, is the fourth submarine of the United States Navy named for the seawolf, a solitary fish with strong, prominent teeth and projecting tusks that give it a savage look. The contract to build her was awarded to the Electric Boat Division of General Dynamics and Newport News Shipbuilding on 9 January 1989 and her keel was laid down on 25 October 1989. She was launched on 24 June 1995 sponsored by Mrs. Margaret Dalton, and commissioned on 19 July 1997, with Commander David M. McCall in command.

Seawolf was a product of the Cold War, designed as a replacement to the Los Angeles class submarines and as a response to the Soviet Akula class. It is said that the Seawolf is quieter at its tactical speed of 25 knots than a Los Angeles submarine is pierside. Originally 29 were planned for production, but with the end of the Cold war, the cost was judged to be prohibitively high and only 3 were built in favor of the smaller, cheaper, Virginia class.

See USS Seawolf for other ships of the same name.

References