u/FLongis

I'll preface by acknowledging that, behind boomers, SSN specifications and operational capabilities are the sort of things that are secrative enough to qualify as "Properly Spooky". So I understand that there's limited information to work with here. As someone with a fairly limited understanding of this systems to begin with, I'm looking for more broad strokes anyway; as close to an "ELI5" situation as this sub will allow.

So, getting to it: It's my understanding that the Virginias exist largely as scaled back derivatives of the Cold War era Seawolf program with an eye towards leveraging the latter's advanced capabilities to deliver a more economical Los Angeles replacement. Based on that understanding:

1. Upon their introduction in 2004, how did the first production batch of Virginia-class boats compare to the two "standard" configuration Seawolf-class boats then in operation?
2. Did the cost-cutting that largely defined the Virginias result in any significant loss of capability?
3. Has one or the other class advanced more rapidly than the other? I could imagine that the Virginias, being the Navy's primary SSN going forward, would have the focus when it came to refits. But I could also understand the Seawolfs also receiving many of the same sorts of upgrades.
4. As far as we know, is there anything which the Navy can/could task SSN-21 and SSN-22 to do which a Virginia-class boat could not accomplish?

I'll reiterate that I understand that the answer to some or all of these questions may be, at best, speculative. But as someone coming from a "These things look cool and my state builds them, but I really don't know that much more" angle, I'm hoping that my lack of knowledge can be attributed more to ignorance than an actual lack of information out there.