Navy's newest warships top out at more than 50 mph.

[shooter32]

Navy's newest warships top out at more than 50 mph
       
By DAVID SHARP, Associated Press Writer David Sharp, Associated Press Writer – Thu Oct 22, 5:32 pm ET
BATH, Maine – The Navy's need for speed is being answered by a pair of warships that have reached freeway speeds during testing at sea.

Independence, a 418-foot warship built in Alabama, boasts a top speed in excess of 45 knots, or about 52 mph, and sustained 44 knots for four hours during builder trials that wrapped up this month off the Gulf Coast. The 378-foot Freedom, a ship built in Wisconsin by a competing defense contractor, has put up similar numbers.

Both versions of the Littoral Combat Ship use powerful diesel engines, as well as gas turbines for extra speed. They use steerable waterjets instead of propellers and rudders and have shallower drafts than conventional warships, letting them zoom close to shore.

The ships, better able to chase down pirates, have been fast-tracked because the Navy wants vessels that can operate in coastal, or littoral, waters. Freedom is due to be deployed next year, two years ahead of schedule.

Independence is an aluminum, tri-hulled warship built by Austal USA in Mobile, Ala. The lead contractor is Maine's Bath Iron Works, a subsidiary of General Dynamics.

Lockheed Martin Corp. is leading the team that built Freedom in Marinette, Wis. It looks more like a conventional warship, with a single hull made of steel.

The stakes are high for both teams. The Navy plans to select Lockheed Martin or General Dynamics, but not both, as the builder. The Navy has ordered one more ship from each of the teams before it chooses the final design. Eventually, the Navy wants to build up to 55 of them.

Speed has long been relished by Navy skippers. Capt. John Paul Jones, sometimes described as father of the U.S. Navy, summed it up this way in 1778: "I wish to have no connection with any ship that does not sail fast; for I intend to go in harm's way."

Eric Wertheim, author and editor of the U.S. Naval Institute's "Guide to Combat Fleets of the World," said speed is a good thing, but it comes at a cost.

"This is really something revolutionary," Wertheim said. "The question is how important and how expensive is this burst of speed?"

Early cost estimates for Littoral Combat Ships were about $220 million apiece, but costs spiraled because of the Navy's requirements and its desire to expedite construction. The cost of the ships is capped at $460 million apiece, starting in the new fiscal year.

Both ships are built to accommodate helicopters and mission "modules" for either anti-submarine missions, mine removal or traditional surface warfare. The goal is for the modules to be swapped out in 24 hours, and no later than 96 hours, allowing the ships to adapt quickly to new missions, said Cmdr. Victor Chen, a Navy spokesman.

While they're fast, they aren't necessarily the fastest military ships afloat. The Navy used to have missile-equipped hydrofoils and the Marines' air-cushioned landing craft is capable of similar speeds, Wertheim said. And smaller ships are capable of higher speeds.

Nonetheless, the speed is impressive, especially considering that other large naval vessels have been cruising along at a relatively pokey 30 to 35 knots for decades.

Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, noted that Independence sustained 44 knots despite a 30-knot headwind and 6- to 8-foot seas in Alabama's Mobile Bay. "For a ship of this size, it's simply unheard of to sustain that rate of speed for four hours," he said.

[twyacht]

Stealth Ships are coming also. Let the Somali Pirates crap their pants with these:

http://www.solarnavigator.net/stealth_ship.htm



 

[fightingquaker13]

Stealth Ships are coming also. Let the Somali Pirates crap their pants with these:

http://www.solarnavigator.net/stealth_ship.htm



 

Not to be a killjoy, but if we're gearing up for Somalia pirates, two or three dozen upgraded PT boats would do the job better, for half the cost of either of the vessels described.
FQ13

[Timothy]

Years ago, all of this kind of information was classified.  Speed of surface ships, submarine prop configurations, armament, crew contingients, all of it.

Now they parade this stuff around bragging about it since there isn't a single Navy in the world that can come close to the firepower available to the US Navy.

The Chinese are making subs as fast as they can but their technology is decades behind ours.  The scary part of that is the diesel boats are basically black holes in the ocean when they submerge on battery.  The best passive detection systems we have cannot find a submerged boat running on batteries.  Slow and silent.....the ultimate stealth platform.

Now, if we just had a Commander in Chief!

[tombogan03884]

Not to be a killjoy, but if we're gearing up for Somalia pirates, two or three dozen upgraded PT boats would do the job better, for half the cost of either of the vessels described.
FQ13

The Littoral Combat ship is an amphibious assault ship. The utility of the concept is based on the huge % of  strategic areas within 100 miles of oceans or navigable waterways.
The ships though presumably armed, would not be used so much against the pirate vessels, as against their havens ashore.

[Sponsor]

[fightingquaker13]

The Littoral Combat ship is an amphibious assault ship. The utility of the concept is based on the huge % of  strategic areas within 100 miles of oceans or navigable waterways.
The ships though presumably armed, would not be used so much against the pirate vessels, as against their havens ashore.

Thanks for the info, but couldn't an MEU do that with what they have? Shores of Tripoli and all that? If they are necessary, then buy them. It just seems that in controlling a stretch of coast line, more and cheaper might be better than fewer and more expensive. I think that for what is basically an interception and semi-blockade and inspection mission, a bunch of well armed fast 60 footers with helicopter backup close by could do a better job than one half billion dollar ship. The ocean is a big place after all. If we are looking at a next gen amphibious vessel, that's a different ball game. The thing is, we are unlikely to hit the enclaves because they will just shift one town over. We might make a better impression by making sure that guys that put to sea armed don't come back, without the collateral damage, but that requires dominating the water, which means numbers. If we do go in, the Marines should be ok, as long as we don't try to hold ground, but just conduct raids.
FQ13

[Pathfinder]

Stealth Ships are coming also. Let the Somali Pirates crap their pants with these:

http://www.solarnavigator.net/stealth_ship.htm



 

Actually, I will be a killjoy and point out that both of the experimental stealth "war" ships of the USN are now for sale. Stealth characteristics are being routinely incorporated into standard warships (real ones with guns - the stealth ships have no weaponry as a rule, only instrumentation. A modern destroyer or two could easily deal with the Somalia BGs - except they cover so damn much territory, it does take an international fleet to protect ships. And that's not always successful, in that they just acquired a Chinese ship this week - 200 miles off the coast.   

[tombogan03884]

Thanks for the info, but couldn't an MEU do that with what they have? Shores of Tripoli and all that? If they are necessary, then buy them. It just seems that in controlling a stretch of coast line, more and cheaper might be better than fewer and more expensive. I think that for what is basically an interception and semi-blockade and inspection mission, a bunch of well armed fast 60 footers with helicopter backup close by could do a better job than one half billion dollar ship. The ocean is a big place after all. If we are looking at a next gen amphibious vessel, that's a different ball game. The thing is, we are unlikely to hit the enclaves because they will just shift one town over. We might make a better impression by making sure that guys that put to sea armed don't come back, without the collateral damage, but that requires dominating the water, which means numbers. If we do go in, the Marines should be ok, as long as we don't try to hold ground, but just conduct raids.
FQ13

Yes, the ocean IS a big place, but there are less than a dozen spots in it that actually have any importance, The 2 "Horns", The 2 Canals, and a half dozen Straights control the majority of the worlds shipping channels.
The argument you present has been going on since the Revolution, and the actual answer is that both types have their uses.
But as regards specifically, the Littoral Combat ship, NO ! The Marines can not do their job as effectively with out it. This is the first major Naval vessel to be built with as much input from the Marines as from the Navy. Each ship is intended to be a self contained "war package". while they WILL travel with supporting vessels, they incorporate Air assets, ground forces, and logistic support all in one package capable of sustaining itself for 30 days.

Actually, I will be a killjoy and point out that both of the experimental stealth "war" ships of the USN are now for sale. Stealth characteristics are being routinely incorporated into standard warships (real ones with guns - the stealth ships have no weaponry as a rule, only instrumentation. A modern destroyer or two could easily deal with the Somalia BGs - except they cover so damn much territory, it does take an international fleet to protect ships. And that's not always successful, in that they just acquired a Chinese ship this week - 200 miles off the coast.    

What you say about Sea Shadow and her sister ship are true, but irrelevant. First, they are 20 years old, second, they were built as experimental platforms to prove technologies and serve as test beds for new ideas, they were never intended to actually join the fleet in the same way that the Air Force never planned to incorporate X planes into the Air fleet.

[twyacht]

Just bolt an M-60 to a drug seized go fast Cigarette, Skater, Scarab, Fountain, Apache, hunt them down and kill them.

They won't outrun em'


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6EgPMYXEk0&feature=related

 

[sledgemeister]

US Navy has had Tassie made boats/cats able to operate at more than 45 knots since the late 90/s

http://www.incat.com.au/domino/incat/incatweb.nsf/v-title/Incat%20Defence?OpenDocument

http://www.bollinger-incatusa.com/