U.S. Navy all-stainless steel submarine program (AL-6X alloy)

AL-6XN cited at ~$10/lb as the non-magnetic stainless option. Used as the intermediate cost comparator between HSLA steel (~$1/lb) and titanium (~$100/lb fabricated).

Okay, that's an overview of the metallurgy. We're talking about alloys that are going to cost thirty to a hundred dollars a pound, as opposed to steel at a dollar a pound for an alloy steel like an HSLA steel. Considerably more expensive. Why doesn't the Navy go make an Inconel submarine? Well, you can make one out of AL-6XN and probably pay only ten bucks a pound for that steel. But why are you paying ten bucks a pound rather than a dollar a pound? If you're going to build a two-billion-dollar submarine and the hull cost is, let's say, five hundred million of that two billion —