Built in Sub Time

If the Virginia class is an information conduit, the command center is its convergence point -- where 23 different functional areas come together. The commanding officer stands in the focal point of the chamber, surrounded by key people and controls: sonar to his left; combat control to his right; ship control in front of him; and a flat navigation table, where CD-ROM maps scroll in real time beneath a submarine icon, directly behind him. The periscopes have been replaced by joystick-controlled photonics masts containing several high-resolution color cameras -- each one equipped with infrared, low-level light and range-finding enhancement features -- that send visual images to screen displays in the ship's control room. Punch in your desired course and depth, and the sub steers itself. The control systems operate as a network. All of the touch-screen monitors in the room are interchangeable, and everyone has equal access to information: Surface images, for example, are no longer exclusive to the periscope operator.

"When a commanding officer wants to see something, it can be projected on two vertical screens at the front of the room," says Captain Terry Haid, 44, who is in charge of designing c4isr (Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance). "It's like Captain Kirk in his fancy chair, driving a starship around. We're not quite there yet, but we're getting closer to that concept."

Information also circulates to key locations inside the ship. For the first time, the commanding officers' and the executive officers' staterooms are outfitted with vertical touch-screen monitors on which they can view any information from the terminals in the command center. The ward room -- the area where the officers eat -- is similarly equipped.

"We'll need to get used to having that much information," says Haid, "and we'll have to figure out how to use it most effectively. How will we be sure that we're focused on the right data and not let ourselves micromanage, or be overwhelmed by all of the information that's available? It's a great opportunity -- and a great challenge."

Jill Rosenfeld (jrosenfeld@fastcompany.com) is a Fast Company senior writer. Learn more about the Virginia by visiting the Web (www.navy.mil) and clicking on the "submarine centennial" button.