Rickover's pursuit of excellence did not mean that every boat had to be the most capable design imaginable. Enough safe, maintainable submarines were needed to sustain training, readiness, operational availability, and institutional experience. Boats that sat in harbor, could not be used effectively by their crews, or endangered those crews would weaken the force regardless of their paper performance. On that logic, a mixed force centered on Virginia-class boats could preserve his deeper priorities even if Seawolf represented the more extreme expression of individual submarine performance.
Notable Point · 1:41:04-1:44:19
Seawolf, Virginia, and Rickover's usable fleet
Virginia serves as the affordable 74 in a comparison with Seawolf as a first rate: less individually capable, but available in the numbers a trained fleet requires.