A nuclear submarine could travel as fast as any large surface ship and at lower speeds much more quietly, and therefore less detectably, than its diesel-driven predecessor.
General Dynamics, on the other hand, says there is really no competition among submarine and aircraft carrier builders anyway, and that a Northrop deal could lead to a monopoly in large surface ship construction.
Up to 15 of these vessels would be large surface ships such as air warfare destroyers, landing helicopter docks and future frigates.
While the well-funded Chinese archeologists dive for sunken Chinese treasure off the coast of Kenya, Chinese sailors and soldiers on its largest surface ship, the LPD Kunlan Shan, are patrolling the Somalia Coast ostensibly to protect Chinese ships from pirates.
For the rest of the war, the three ships operated from the bay, escorting the large and valuable convoys bound for the British Isles to ensure no German heavy surface ships could slip past the British Grand Fleet and annihilate the merchant ships and their weak escorts of older cruisers.
U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus cited a "growing China" as one of the reasons that the Navy needed to expand its fleet to 355 ships, including 12 carriers, 104 large surface combatants, 38 amphibious ships and 66 submarines.
Instead of investing its purchasing dollars in the expensive new DD-21, a large and potentially vulnerable surface ship, the Navy should buy smaller, cheaper arsenal ships, which are essentially floating platforms for launching missiles.
As one expert said, the idea that we are suddenly going to start building a large number of surface ships for the Royal Navy is a "fantasy".
Focusing on the Navy's large surface combatants, cruisers and destroyers, this approach could theoretically allow roughly 60 ships (with slightly less than half of them deployed abroad at a time) to maintain the global presence that the Navy says it needs, rather than the 94 ships it is currently pursuing.
"Flamingos do not have a large surface.
The ship proved to be very manoeuvrable at medium and high speeds, but steered badly at low speeds and in wind due to her large surface area.
