That's as many as are now carried by an entire Navy surface battle group. The potential utility of this capability was proved just one year ago - when 25 percent of all the cruise missiles launched during the Kosovo war came from submerged U.S. attack submarines. During the Gulf War, by comparison, submarines launched only 4 percent of the cruise missiles used against Iraq. Meanwhile, construction is also moving forward on the new Virginia class of attack sub, which can also carry Tomahawks, Navy SEALs and other special forces. Today, spy satellites scour the surface of the globe, but still can't effectively peer under-water.
Submarines remain the best of the nation's stealth weapons.
This is far from the world that John Lowe could have imagined when he guided Holland into New York Harbor a century ago. But it is a world that the U.S. Navy's Silent Service is well-equipped to dominate well into it's second century.