Re: why not strip the weapons and upgrade them
"I have no clue about nuclear submarines, just asking"
well, it does show a little ...
It's not that they're obsolete or surplus, it's that they're worn out and the nuclear propulsion system is f**ked. They ought to be scrap, but we can't scrap them fast enough.
And any kind of research, cable laying, monitoring or prospecting could be done way cheaper with a ship than with a submarine.