Los Angeles-class age and replacement pressure

Were Los Angeles-class attack submarines already outdated by 2020?

Later flights remained capable, but even the youngest boats were old and replacement construction had proceeded too slowly.

The Los Angeles design dates to construction beginning in 1972, but successive flights incorporated substantial improvements. A later boat therefore cannot be judged solely by the age of the original design. By the recording, even the youngest examples were described as roughly thirty years old, while slow submarine production had delayed replacement. Hull fatigue adds a limit that equipment upgrades cannot remove. Descending and ascending repeatedly change the pressure on the hull, whereas remaining at a roughly constant depth does not impose the same cycle of strain.