By the Los Angeles class, nuclear attack submarines had come of age in numbers sufficient to cover many roles. A large class with broad capability allowed the U.S. Navy to use nuclear boats as a routine force rather than as a handful of special platforms. That maturity was the product of a long development path, not an inevitable result apparent from the earliest submarine experiments. The effort to minimize design compromises also pushed complexity and expense upward, setting up the procurement dilemma explored later with Seawolf.
Notable Point · 2:01:47-2:05:04
Los Angeles class: nuclear attack submarines come of age
The Los Angeles class made large-scale nuclear attack-submarine capability practical enough to become a routine fleet instrument.