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[Greg Cox <glcox AT pobox.com>]

> [Stennis] Interesting guy. Although I don't know the impact
> of this politician in the Navy or the US. Am I missing
> something that "everybody knows" and its not in those pages?

I don't think so.  I doubt 1/1000 knows who Stennis or Vinson
were.  I had trouble remembering, til I brushed up.  I figure
it's more that they were in Navy politics long enough to...
uh... make waves... and get noticed for it.

> > just, from what I read, they just fell
> > prey to Version 2.0 Feature Creep.
>  
> Can you translate this to "English as a second language"?

I knew I should've dug out "The Mythical Man Month" and
gotten the term right.  "Second-System Effect."  Basically,
you add in all the frills that the first generation didn't
have.  Frills of marginal and dubious utility, that quickly
cause a project to bloat.

The 688 was a solid "first" generation, and even underwent
a successful upgrade to the Improved-688, being quieter,
adding cruise missle, and can break through ice.

Seawolf was the second generation. "improve on the 688."
Okay, quieter, new electronics, faster... how about a
titanium hull?  sure!  Putting it all together.. there
were a lot of schedule slips in trying to integrate it
all.  For example: since they made it faster, the effects
of the additional water resistance makes a torpedo launch
at speed somewhat different, and it's harder to have a
drive-out torpedo launch.

Throw in the demise of the Soviet Union, and the drying-up
budgets, along with featureitis, and Seawolf didn't have
much of a chance.  Scope creep.  Ain't it a bitch?