Beam: 33 feet

Draft: 25 feet

Displacement: 6,135 tons surfaced / 6,901 tons submerged

Unclassified Speed: 25+ knots

Unclassified Operating Depth: 400+ feet

Weapons Systems: AN/BSY-1. Her missions include anti-submarine warfare, anti-surface warfare and strike warfare.

Propulsion: S6G nuclear reactor

Complement/Average Number of Personnel Assigned: 14 Officer / 127 Enlisted

Date Launched:12 September 1987

Date Commissioned: 11 February 1989

Homeport: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

The propulsion plant of a nuclear powered ship is based upon use of a nuclear reactor to provide heat. The heat comes from the fissioning of nuclear fuel contained within the reactor. Since the fissioning process also produces radiation, shields are placed around the reactor so that the crew is protected.

The nuclear propulsion plant in this ship uses a pressurized water reactor design which has two basic systems; the primary system and the secondary system.

The primary system circulates ordinary water and consists of the reactor, piping loops, pumps and steam generators. The heat produced in the reactor is transferred to the water under high pressure so it does not boil. The water is pumped through the steam generators and back into the reactor for reheating. In the steam generators, the heat from the water in the primary system is transferred to the secondary system to create steam.

The secondary system is isolated from the primary system so that the water in the two systems does not intermix. In the secondary system, the steam flows from the steam generators to drive the turbine generators, which supply the ship with electricity, the steam is condensed into water which is fed back to the steam generators by the feed pumps.