Why the U.S. Navy Stopped Building the ‘F-22 Raptor’ of Submarines

Why the U.S. Navy Stopped Building the ‘F-22 Raptor’ of Submarines

The Seawolf-class submarines were envisioned as the best submarines ever built. Designed to succeed the Los Angeles–class attack submarines and maintain America’s edge in the underwater domain, the class suffered from cost overruns and the collapse of the Soviet Union. While still some of the best submarines ever built, they were built at reduced numbers. In many respects, they are the F-22 of submarines: widely considered the world’s best, but costs made wide their wide usage a major challenge.