Bananas for Scale
USS Virginia-Class Submarine

Photo from Wikimedia Commons

USS Virginia-Class Submarine

America's most advanced nuclear attack submarine/Ships & Boats

The Virginia class is the U.S. Navy's newest class of nuclear-powered fast attack submarine. Designed to operate in both deep ocean and shallow coastal waters, these boats carry Tomahawk cruise missiles and can deploy Navy SEALs. Each submarine costs about $3.4 billion and is built to be quieter than the ocean itself. The crew of 132 lives underwater for months at a time, which is either impressive or a very expensive way to avoid sunlight.

Measurements

Length115 m
8,846Sugar cubes
3.3 hundredthsMonaco lengths
58.7Dwayne The Rock Johnsons
Submerged displacement7.8 million kg
53.8 millionBaseballs
86,667Home safes
3.82Space Shuttle launches

7,800 tonnes

Maximum submerged speed17.5 m/s
58.3Roombas
12.5Swimming humans
58.4 billionthsLight speeds

About 34 knots

Maximum operating depth240 m
80,000Snowflake crystals
2.4City block lengths
80Diving boards

Estimated; classified exact figure

Beam (width)10.4 m
4.95Sofas
69.3Bird nest diameters
10.4 billionNanometers
Reactor power30 million W
3 hundredthsNuclear plants
20,000Electric kettles

S9G reactor, about 40,000 shp

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