Cruiser submarines need a mission strong enough to justify their cost

The cruiser submarine's procurement logic resembles that of a modern conventionally armed cruise-missile submarine. Both promise many operational options, but only after a navy invests in a specialized system. X-1 could not borrow infrastructure or political momentum from an adjacent ballistic-missile-submarine program, so all of its cost had to be justified on its own merits. A surface cruiser remained better in its own role, as did a conventional submarine, so the hybrid's distinct value lay in covert long-range presence in places such as the Far East.