Peter O wrote:
Tom, I took the liberty of modifying your photo of the two hulls. I found that if I positioned them stern to stern, the hulls matched pretty well for much of their lengths, up to the small gap in the limber holes (shown by the red line). I then stretched the forward part of the Seawolf kit so that the stems matched. The end result matches the Blue Ridge kit pretty well.
That doesn't help explain why there is the discrepancy though.
I have the Blue Ridge kit to build as the SSGN (which, oddly, Blue Ridge calls SSNG in the instructions).
Peter
Despite what Wikipedia says, Seawolf (post-conversion) was 384' in length - slightly longer than my first (598 class) boat, and more than 30' longer than the "H-boat" --as she was affectionately called by her crew. When the H-boat was de-commed, many of her crew were transferred to other billets within the CNO SP's community. They had some great stories.
Someday, (caveat that with a very big IF) the Navy ever declassifies details of the Mare Island-modified projects boats, there will be more than enough red-faced internet "experts" eating crow to crew one of them. Without a doubt, the unsung heroes of the program were the hundreds of MINSY workers who designed, built, and maintained "their" one-of-a-kind platforms and associated systems. They never received any meaningful credit for their accomplishments, --but that was never what motivated them anyway. There are some equally interesting behind-the-scenes stories of their hard work and dedication that made the missions possible.
It's interesting to read recent articles questioning the decision of the BRAC that shuttered MINSY and decimated the adjacent town of Vallejo is being re-visited, since the USN is having a major crisis without enough drydock-capable shipyards to support timely fleet maintenance. (Bay area politics played a large part, as every major naval facility was removed, with thousands of high-paying jobs lost as a result.) Portsmouth, Pearl, and PSNS aren't even close in capability for what is required.