us navy stealth ship catamaran

Sea Shadow (IX-529)

Experimental navy stealth demonstrator, united states | 1985, "the sea shadow ix-529 boat was a lockheed stealth product developed for the united states navy - it operated from 1985 until 2006 before being scrapped.".

Navy Wants To Sideline Its Fast Transport Catamarans As Pacific Fight Looms

Congress wants the Navy to stop reducing the readiness of its Spearhead class transports and to make a plan for them in the Pacific.

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Members of Congress are trying to block the Navy from putting just under half of its fleet of Spearhead class expeditionary fast transports into a state of reduced readiness with only skeleton crews assigned to them. Some of the vessels in question are very young, with one having first entered service just three years ago. This comes as the U.S. military is coming to terms with massive logistical hurdles if it were to go to war in the Pacific, which these fast, low-draft, multi-purpose vessels seem to be ideally suited for.

Because of this glaring disconnect, lawmakers are also pushing for a legal requirement for the service to develop and implement a formal concept of operations for utilizing these catamaran transport vessels in the Pacific.

Provisions relating to the Spearhead class ships are contained in the version of the annual defense policy bill, or National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), for Fiscal Year 2024 that the House of Representatives passed in July . The Fiscal Year 2024 NDAA that the Senate passed last month does not include any such language relating to these vessels, and the two chambers are now in the process of trying to reconcile their bills.

If the language found in the House bill makes it into the final NDAA for Fiscal Year 2024, and is then signed into law by President Joe Biden, the Navy would be prevented from using any funds to place Spearheads on so-called Reduced Operating Status (ROS). The service would also be required to "develop and implement a strategy and concept of operations for the use of expeditionary fast transport vessels in support of operational plans in the area of operations of United States Indo-Pacific Command" within 180 days of the law's passage. The Chief of Naval Operations would have 30 days to "submit to the congressional defense committees a report describing such [a] strategy and concept of operations."

In its budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2024 , the Navy outlined plans to transition five Spearheads – USNS Choctaw County , USNS Trenton , USNS Carson City , USNS Yuma , and USNS Newport – to ROS. The service says doing so would save it just under $17.6 million, which it could then redirect to other priorities. The oldest of these ships, USNS Choctaw County , entered service in 2013. The youngest of them, USNS Newport , was commissioned in 2020.

The Navy has already placed two Spearhead class ships, the USNS Spearhead and USNS Fall River , on ROS. The service has different tiers of ROS, but they all involve truncating a ship's assigned crew and reducing its readiness state. Officially, the Navy categorizes any ship on ROS that is capable of being reactivated within 45 days or less as inactive, but still on the rolls. Spearhead and Fall River are both reportedly being kept on so-called "ROS 45" status, the lowest level of 'inactive' readiness.

So, at least on paper, the Navy currently has 13 Spearhead class ships, also known by the abbreviation EPF. The first of these were commissioned in 2012. The latest of these ships, the USNS Apalachicola , just entered service in February of this year.

Leveraging its experience with commercial high-speed ferry designs, Australian shipbuilder Austal's U.S. subsidiary developed and built the Spearhead class ships , which typically have a crew of around 42 people. These aluminum-hulled vessels displace around 2,362 tons, can cruise at around 35 knots, have a top speed of some 43 knots, and are designed to be readily reconfigurable to the mission at hand. Each one has a multi-purpose 20,000 square-foot mission bay, as well as a rear flight deck able to accommodate various helicopters and a stern ramp for loading and unloading vehicles, personnel, and cargo.

Austal USA is in the process of building two additional Flight II Spearheads for the Navy and the service has a third one on order now. These Spearhead subvariants will have expanded medical capabilities and strengthened flight decks able to allow Osprey tilt-rotors to take off and land. The Navy is also looking to acquire a trio of Bethesda class expeditionary medical ships , a dedicated medical vessel variant derived from the Flight II Spearhead .

With all this in mind, it might seem odd that the Navy is now looking to significantly scale back its use of the Spearheads , which are currently assigned to its Military Sealift Command and are crewed by civilian mariners. However, the service's current plans for ships very much speak to their somewhat obtuse history and long-building uncertainty about their role and mission.

Officially, the current mission of the Spearhead class ships is to "provide high-speed, agile lift capability to deliver operationally ready units to small, austere ports and flexibly support a wide range of missions including humanitarian assistance/disaster relief, theater security cooperation, maritime domain awareness, and noncombatant evacuations," according to the Navy . "They enable the rapid transit and deployment of conventional and special forces, equipment, and supplies in support of maneuver and sustainment operations."

Originally known as Joint High-Speed Vessels (JHSV), the Spearhead class was a product of U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps requirements dating back to the early 2000s. Initially, there was an expectation that some of these ships would be operated by the Army itself as part of its obscure, but actually quite capable watercraft fleet, which you can read more about here .

In the 2000s, the Navy also chartered a number of commercial catamaran ferries to explore the potential utility of vessels like this in various combat and non-combat contexts, largely in support of the JHSV program. In 2012, the service also received two other Austal-designed ferries from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Maritime Administration (MARAD). Both of those ships, referred to as High-Speed Transports (HST), remain in inventory, though one has been on loan to a commercial ferry operator in Canada since 2016.

Over the past two decades or so, the Spearheads and their immediate predecessors have certainly demonstrated the ability to perform a wide array of missions. For instance, two of the earlier chartered catamaran ferries, known during their time in Navy service as the Joint Venture and Swift , were used in particularly novel roles, including as small special operations seabase ships and at sea-based launch platforms for tethered surveillance blimps.

The Spearhead class ships have also been explored as special operations support platforms, as well as floating forward-deployed repair facilities for smaller warships like Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). There has been talk in the past about potentially fitting these ships with more robust weapons. The Navy at one time planned to at least use one of the ships to test its now-defunct electromagnetic railgun . Austal has previously shown concept art of an uncrewed Spearhead derivative with arrays of vertical launch system cells for firing various kinds of missiles, too.

However, the Spearheads have still not seen significant integration into routine day-to-day Navy operations in the past decade and they have generally been used just as transports. The use of the USNS Millinocket recently to bring materiel to Australia in support of the Talisman Sabre 23 exercise reflects how these ships are generally employed at present.

As a prime example of apparent Navy disinterest in more novel applications of these ships, the recently delivered USNS Apalachicola has a full suite of systems to enable crew-optional operations, but the service has no current plans to make use of those capabilities. You can read more about this particular ship and its unique features here .

“I think one step at a time. In terms of that ship, it has the capability but we will integrate into fleet in a very deliberate manner,” Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday told reporters at the WEST 2023 conference in February, according to USNI News . "We won’t have a deployment and unmanned and an unmanned deployment right off the bat."

There are certainly questions about the value of a commercial ferry-derived design in a future high-end conflict, such as one in the Pacific against China. Scenarios like this are dominating planning discussions across the U.S. military at present.

The potential vulnerability of ships like the Spearhead class was highlighted in 2016, one of the catamaran ferries the Navy had previously chartered, the ex- Swift , was destroyed by an anti-ship missile off the coast of Yemen. The vessel was in service with the armed forces of the United Arab Emirates at the time and was supporting operations against Yemen's Houthi rebels. What was left of the ship was subsequently towed to a port in Greece, where the hulk remains.

At the same time, even in the broader context of a larger-scale conflict, Spearhead class ships could still provide valuable intratheater sealift capacity in lower-threat environments or under a protective umbrella provided by other assets. This could also then help free up more robust sealift ships for use elsewhere.

In addition, the ability of the Spearhead class ships to be relatively rapidly reconfigured for different mission sets gives them additional flexibility. This could potentially include providing additional 'magazine depth' for kinetic strikes missions through the installation of modular weapon systems or the positioning of existing mobile launch systems on its stern flight deck, with targeting data fed in from offboard sources.

The video below shows a U.S. Marine Corps M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launcher being fired from the flight deck of a San Antonio class amphibious warfare ship.

Furthermore, the Navy itself has clearly identified the core Spearhead class design as a useful way of augmenting critical expeditionary medical capabilities.

All of this also comes amidst concerns that have been building for years now about the Navy's overall sealift capacity and its ability to surge additional assets , including ones held in various states of reduced readiness, in the event of a major conflict or contingency. Beyond that, the U.S. Marine Corps, as well as the Army , continue to have their specific requirements for lower-tier intratheater sealift support for combat and non-combat missions, particularly in the Pacific .

Just in the past few years, the U.S. Marine Corps has identified an all-new requirement for dozens of additional middle-tier transport vessels specifically to support its new expeditionary and distributed concepts of operation. The Expeditionary Advance Base Operations (EABO) concept centers heavily on the ability of Marine contingents to rapidly deploy to remote or austere locations , including in maritime and littoral environments , and then just as quickly redeploy elsewhere as required to reduce their vulnerability and otherwise make it difficult to opponents to respond effectively.

Spearhead class ships have been used to support counter-narcotics operations and to help shuttle U.S. military units around for various types of training exercises and other regional engagement activities in Latin America. They could provide a similarly useful 'presence' in the Pacific region.

Altogether, it is very hard to see the Spearheads as being anything else but well-suited to meeting a host of needs the U.S. military has when it comes to the Pacific region, both in peacetime and in war. The ships are, on average, relatively young, and have limited crew requirements to begin with, too.

The potential cost savings from putting a significant number of Spearheads on ROS look to be small in the context of the overall U.S. defense budget. As of 2021, the Pentagon pegged the annual operating cost of a single one of these ships at around $20.3 million , which is relatively cheap by naval vessel standards . Beyond that, as already noted, the Navy says it stands to free up less than $20 million in Fiscal Year 2024 by putting five of these ships into a state of reduced readiness.

This all helps explain why the House, in its version of the Fiscal Year 2024 NDAA, wants to compel the Navy to look deeply into the Spearhead class's roles and missions, with a particular eye toward future operations in the Pacific, in addition to preventing the service from placing any more of those ships on ROS. Whether that language makes it into the final reconciled NDAA, and if that bill is then signed into law by President Biden, remains to be seen.

Whatever ultimately happens on the legislative front could have significant ramifications for the future of the Navy's Spearhead class ships.

Contact the author: [email protected]

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Recommended, us navy funds conversion of catamaran transport to an autonomous vessel.

The US Navy has awarded Austal USA a $44 million contract modification to integrate and demonstrate autonomous capability for one of the Spearhead-class expeditionary fast transport (EPF) ships currently being built.

Austal is the primary contractor on the shallow-draft, all-aluminum, commercial-based catamaran program and has so far delivered 12 vessels in the class to the navy.

The autonomy package will be introduced on the 13th EPF ship, the future USNS Apalachicola, which is currently under construction at Austal USA’s Mobile, Alabama shipyard.

“Winning a $44 million contract is welcome from a revenue perspective, but strategically this contract award is even more significant for Austal,” CEO Paddy Gregg said.

“Autonomous vessel capability has been identified as an area of strategic importance by the US Navy, so it is promising for Austal that the US Navy has awarded Austal USA a contract for the design, procurement, production implementation and demonstration of autonomous capability of one of our vessels, the Expeditionary Fast Transport (EPF) 13, the future USNS Apalachicola.”

Austal did not elaborate on what degree of autonomy USNS Apalachicola will have following the conversion.

In a report from July 2020, the House Armed Services Committee said the navy initially expects these vessels to be minimally manned rather than fully unmanned in order to maximize concept of operations (CONOPS) development. The committee recommended the navy to modify existing mature manned ships to support autonomous operations in order to develop CONOPS rather than procuring new ships that will need to support manned operations, but will eventually be fully unmanned.

By featuring autonomy systems, EPF 13 is joining the Ghost Fleet Overlord vessels , which are former commercial ocean-going vessels integrated with equipment on board to create unmanned surface vessels.

EPFs are capable of transporting 600 short tons 1,200 nautical miles at an average speed of 35 knots. Each vessel includes a flight deck to support day and night aircraft launch and recovery operations. The ships are capable of interfacing with roll-on/roll-off discharge facilities, as well as on/off-loading vehicles such as a fully combat-loaded Abrams main battle tank.

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The Polaroid Concept

“Time out! There isn’t one thing wrong with your new camera,” said Ben Rich to a company photographer who was complaining that his Polaroid camera was defective after his shots of a model F-117 came out blurry. As it turned out, the stealthy coatings and shaping of the airplane interfered with the camera’s sonar-like device used to focus, making the images appear fuzzy.

When Rich led the Skunk Works, he was always on the prowl to find ideas to expand or exploit the stealth technologies they were developing. After the incident with the Polaroid, Rich realized he could apply the stealth technology of the F-117 to a submarine, making it undetectable on sonar.

His team got right to work and bought a small model submarine, put faceted fairings on it and tested it in a sonic chamber. Even with such a crude setup, they discovered that they had reduced the model’s sonar return by three orders of magnitude. Rich has said that “in the engineering game, improving anything by a single order of magnitude – 10 times better – is a very big deal and usually worth a nice bottle of champagne.” Having discovered an improvement  one thousand times  better, the Skunk Works decided to pursue designing a stealthy sub.

The Ship that Never Was

The initial design consisted of a cigar-shaped hull that was shielded by an outer wall of flat, angular surfaces. These surfaces could bounce sonar signals away and also muffle the engine sounds and the internal noises of crewman inside the vessel. The Skunk Works team ran numerous acoustical tests in special sound-measuring facilities and obtained dramatic improvements.

Armed with high hopes, Rich took the design and test results to the Pentagon office of a Navy captain in charge of submarine research and development. To put it lightly, the submarine captain was not convinced the Sea Shadow was right for them. Moreover, he was concerned that the design would cost the Navy two or three knots of speed. Even after rebutting the captain’s complaint by explaining they would gain invisibility from the enemy, Rich left that trip empty-handed.

Just as all hope for this project was lost, a fellow Skunk Works engineer who had just returned from Pearl Harbor informed Rich that he’d seen the Small Water Area Twin Hull (SWATH), a prototype catamaran-style Naval ship. Having proven to be quicker than a conventional ship and amazingly stable in heavy seas, Rich decided the SWATH was the perfect model for a stealthy ship. With this news, Rich travelled back to Washington to meet with Defense Undersecretary Bill Perry in a discussion originally planned for the F-117. Dr. Perry was intrigued with Rich’s idea for a model stealth ship and authorized a contract through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) for the Skunk Works to test the effects of stealth shaping and coatings on surface vessels and effects of seawater on radar absorbing iron ferrite coatings.

At the time, one of the biggest threats against U.S. surface vessels was the Soviet RORS satellite, which used X-band radar. Knowing that shape was the key to defeating such radar, Rich and team designed the ship using severe flat planes of 45 degree angles that bore a strong resemblance to the Nighthawk. The engineer team, led by Ugo Cody, tested their concept by taking the ship to an ancient lake bed deep within Death Valley, Calif. There, they filled a 100 by 80 foot plastic swimming pool and rigged a radar system that duplicated the Soviet radar satellite. Testing proved successful, resulting in additional funding by the Navy to create the prototype of the Sea Shadow.

However, the Ocean Division of Lockheed caught wind of the project and managed to convince Rich to pass the project to them, as they were in dire need of new work at the time. Part of this agreement allowed chief engineer Ugo Coty to continue with the program to ensure the ship builders didn’t compromise stealth for performance.

A four man crew consisting of commander, helmsman, navigator and engineer had to build the ship pieces to keep prying eyes from seeing the work being done. The pieces were then taken to a huge submergible barge in Redwood City, Calif. where they were assembled like a jigsaw puzzle.

During its first sea trials in 1981, the crew suffered unexpectedly large wakes that were easy to spot on radar and from the air, which was baffling. Not long after, they discovered the motor propellers were installed backward. They quickly corrected the problem and continued to make progress, proving the ship’s capabilities.

Nevertheless the Sea Shadow was dry-docked before it ever launched beyond testing. Though, its technologies were eventually applied to the lower cross section of submarine periscopes and the radar cross section of the Navy’s new class of destroyers.

M80 Stiletto Experimental Navy Stealth Ship

In the autumn of 2008, three men and a speedboat loaded down with narcotics sped through the straits near the Florida coast. They were drug smugglers from South America and they raced to evade the authorities that were hot on their tail. Traveling upwards of 40 knots, they decided to move to shallow waters to escape. No Navy or Coast Guard ship could follow them there, they thought. These men clearly didn’t know about the M80 Stiletto. Even in the shallow, 5-foot, water, the authorities are still in pursuit and after two hours, the smugglers run out of fuel.

The M80 Stiletto is an experimental military ship developed for high speed military operations in shallow and littoral waters. Designed by M Ship Company LLC, the M80 utilizes a unique double M-Shape hull to reduce draft to a mere 3 feet while maintaining the ability to maneuver through rough seas.

Capabilities

Built with a carbon fiber composite, the ship is light and fast: able to travel at speeds of 50-60 knots. With a 40’ 5” beam and a length of 88’ 6”, it’s low, wide profile makes it stealthy and capable of avoiding most radar detection methods. The Stiletto is also multi-functional. It can deploy both sea and airborne surveillance equipment and be outfitted with mine clearing devices and a variety of ISR (Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance) assets. M80 is unique in its design and capabilities and currently operates as a test vessel for the US Navy .

M80 Stiletto Speed

The M80 stealth ship has four Caterpillar C32 diesel engines with Arneson ASD-14 drives. Combined with its lightweight carbon fiber hull, these 6,600 horsepower engines propel the Stiletto to 50+ knots in 8 foot seas (according to 2006 tests). What’s more, the double M-shape hull recaptures the bow wave and creates an air cushion. This reduces drag, wake, noise, and helps keep the M80 further out of the water, resulting in its super-shallow 3 foot draft, while maintaining a smoother ride in rough waters. Highly maneuverable, it was able to complete a 360° flat turn with only a 10% reduction in speed during testing.

The M80 has an internal payload of 1,996 square feet and can carry up to 20 tons of crew and equipment. It can transport 13 personnel (to include a crew of 3) and launch small inflatable boats up to 11m long. Coupled with the ability to deploy ISR and surveillance assets, as well as operate as a communications hub with its “electronic keel”, the Stiletto is perfect for special operations.

M80 Stiletto Stealth

Its stealthy size and shape reduce its radar signature and help to prevent detection. Coupled with its shallow water prowess and payload capabilities, the M80 can sneak into shallow water, deploy a SEAL team, and provide both ISR and communications support while the team conducts actions on the objective.

History And Current Use

Launched in 2006, the M80 Stiletto was originally designed and created to serve as an experiment and proof of concept for advanced shallow-water and riverine craft under the Department of Defense’s now closed Office of Force Transformation. Developed in a little over a year, the overall cost of the experiment was $12 million, with the ship itself costing $6 million.

While it performed well in tests, the Navy did express some concerns with its ability to withstand even rougher seas. With the Office of Force Transformation closed, the Stiletto Program is now run by the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Combatant Craft Division. It is currently used as a test ship to showcase and demonstrate new electronics and naval technology. However, the Stiletto has seen action in the Caribbean.

In 2008, during a 6,000 nautical mile deployment in the Caribbean, the Stiletto stealth ship was involved in a high speed drug bust off the Florida Straits. It continued to conduct counter-drug operations in the Caribbean area through the late 2000’s. In 2012, it was used to assist NASA in the recovery of an experimental space capsule heat-shield off the coast of North Carolina.

While the M80 Stiletto stealth ship has not seen widespread use and deployment, it continues to operate as a test vessel for the Navy and is used in a special operations capacity for select missions.

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US Navy HSV 2 Swift Catamaran

HSV 2 Swift is one of US Military Sealift Command's two High- Speed Vessels and is part of the 26 ships in US Military Sealift Command's Prepositioning Program. HSV 2 Swift is capable of maintaining an average speed of 35 knots (65 km/h) or greater, loaded with 500 short tons, consisting of 350 personnel and military equipment. A minimum operating range of 1100 nautical miles (2,037 km) at 35 knots (65 km/h) was required by the contract, as was a minimum transit range of 4000 nautical miles (7,408 km) at an average speed of 20 knots (37 km/h). Furthermore, she is capable of 24 hour operations at slow speeds (3-10 knots) (6-19 km/h) for experimentation with unmanned autonomous vehicles, and to support dedicated and emerging organic mine warfare missions.

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US Navy adds stealth destroyer, new Arleigh Burke-class warship to the fleet

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Navy took delivery of its first stealth destroyer and a new Flight IIA Arleigh Burke-class destroyer last week.

DDG-1000, the Zumwalt, is the first of a three-ship class of stealth destroyers delivered to the Navy nearly four years after it was commissioned.

The ship was delivered in two parts: the hull (mechanical and electrical delivery took place in May 2016) and the combat systems (which took place April 24, 2020).

Congress mandated in the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act that the ship not be counted in the battle force until combat systems delivery was compete.

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In November 2016, BAE Systems was awarded a $192 million contract to deliver the combat system for Zumwalt and its sister ship the Michael Monsoor.

The DDG-1000 program has been beleaguered by cost overruns and changes over the years. The ship’s original raison d'être, the Advanced Gun System, has been all but abandoned by the Navy as the vessel has changed from a naval gunfire support platform for landing Marines to now a surface strike platform .

As the Navy truncated the buy of Zumwalt-class destroyers from 28 ships to seven, and finally to three, the rounds for the guns became steadily more expensive, making the Long Range Land Attack Projectile too valuable to fire. The Navy has yet to identify a replacement.

Instead, the ship has been predesignated a ship killer, with Maritime Strike Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles integrated into its combat system.

The Michael Monsoor should have its combat system activation done by the second quarter of 2020, according to a Naval Sea Systems Command program brief from January. The third and final ship of the class, the Lyndon B. Johnson, is under construction at Bath Iron Works in Maine and should be delivered by December 2020.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer Delbert Black spent more than three days in the Gulf of Mexico testing its main propulsion, combat and other ship systems. (Lance Davis/Huntington Ingalls Industries)

The ship will then transit to San Diego, California, and have its combat system installed like its sister ships.

The Navy also took delivery of the Areligh Burke-class destroyer Delbert Black, DDG-119, from Huntington Ingalls Industries’ shipyard in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

Black was damaged in an accident in 2019 when a Norwegian-flagged vessel struck a barge that subsequently struck the ship, causing delays to the construction and about $31 million in damage.

Huntington Ingalls has four other destroyers under construction, including the Flight IIA destroyers Frank E. Petersen Jr. (DDG-121) and the Lenah H. Sutcliffe Higbee (DDG-123), as well as the Flight III destroyers Jack H. Lucas (DDG-125) and Ted Stevens (DDG-128).

Stevens is the first ship of a multiyear contract signed in June 2018 .

David B. Larter was the naval warfare reporter for Defense News.

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California's Boating & Fishing News

Navy Stealth Ship to Disappear — Permanently

Byline: Jack Innis

A mysterious and odd-shaped Navy stealth ship formerly homeported in San Francisco and San Diego is disappearing permanently after being sold at auction this month.

Although the 164-foot catamaran Sea Shadow plied California waters for more than 30 years, relatively few boaters ever saw the secret ship by day and, it is safe to say, none saw it on radar at night.

One of the more radical ships ever floated, Sea Shadow was built in 1985 at the end of the Cold War under a shroud of secrecy in the backwaters of South San Francisco Bay near Redwood City. The $50 million test bed for maritime stealth technology was constructed by Lockheed Martin inside a covered barge, to avoid the prying eyes of foreign spy satellites. The 27-month build was so hush-hush that subcontractors who created each of the craft’s four modular subsections offsite had no inkling what the ship would look like after the modules were welded together.

“The vessel was built in modules and trucked or barged in under cover of night,” said Steve Larson, former designer. “None of these other fabricators at the other locations had any idea of what we were doing, and sometimes we were simply known as ‘Acme Engineering’ to them. The roof of the barge was opened at night and a floating crane would lower each module into it. The roof would not be opened if any Russian satellites were known to be overhead.”

From the time it was launched, Sea Shadow excelled as a test bed for radar-avoiding technologies. The 68-foot-wide vessel might best be described as an A-framed catamaran floating on a pair of underwater pontoons that extended 14.5 feet underwater. The vessel’s solid side walls, which tilt toward one another at the peak to scatter radar beams, were covered with highly classified radar-absorbing materials. Sea Shadow ’s flat-black surface paint made it nearly impossible to spot at night visually, even with powerful binoculars. Sea Shadow was so stealthy that it once crept up on an aircraft carrier during a nighttime naval exercise. The stealth vessel remained completely unnoticed until it fired three flares. Even after the flares were fired, lookouts couldn’t locate Sea Shadow and it didn’t show up on radar until the crew opened one of its flush-fit deck hatches.

Although Sea Shadow ’s radical A-frame hull never caught on for active duty fleet, other features of the vessel’s construction can be seen in modern warship design. The Navy’s new fleet of littoral combat ships (LCS) is constructed to minimize flat areas on hulls and superstructures that tend to reflect radar signals. Nuances of stealth architecture can be seen in contemporary Navy ships such as the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers. And as current fleets of destroyers, frigates, cruisers and aircraft carriers age, their replacements will no doubt feature stealth technologies derived from Sea Shadow .

Few Creature Comforts        Most vessels, from kayaks to cruise liners, are built on compromises and tradeoffs. Sea Shadow was no exception. Sloping hulls built to scatter radar signals didn’t allow much interior space and most interior voids were so packed with basic propulsion and navigation equipment that, unofficially, the vessel had room no for any sort of weapons system. Crew space was limited too.

“Berthing is Navy standard for the era with 12 berths provided,” according to the Historic Naval Ships Association (HNSA). “A typical (ship’s complement) consisted of eight standing crew operating the ship and four working the payload. However, on some missions as many as 24 were aboard and some slept on cots in the payload space.”

Despite twin 800 hp diesel electric engines that gave Sea Shadow a range of 1,000 nautical miles at 10 knots, the 560-ton vessel was designed for short-duration missions, typically three to five days. With onboard space at a premium, the crew had to make due with one toilet and shower. The ship’s galley was limited to a sink, a food locker, a domestic-size refrigerator, a 12-cup coffeemaker and a microwave oven. Food, often a singular point of solace in a weary sailor’s day, was served on a metal picnic table. The chow hall fare was so basic that one former crewman commented, “We survived the food, but that was it.”

But, in another tradeoff, Sea Shadow was known to ride very well in heavy seas. In fact, stories have surfaced that Navy or Coast Guard escort ships at times had to abandon their chaperone duties due to high seas while the stealth ship continued on course, but it’s hard to determine the veracity of these tales.

Regardless of whether escorts ever turned tail due to rough conditions, Sea Shadow took advantage of an advanced computer-controlled underwater stabilizing system to smooth out the ride. Lacking conventional rudders, Sea Shadow was steered and steadied by stabilizing fins located on the after portion of each underwater pontoon. Canards, or forward stabilizers located near the tips of the pontoons, provided additional stability.

Night Life Under the mantle of darkness, night tests were conducted off Santa Cruz Island in 1985 and 1986. To shield the experimental vessel from spy views, Sea Shadow rode to the testing grounds aboard the barge upon which it was built and stored. When all was ready, the 324-foot-long barge’s hulls partially submerged, a 76-foot-wide by 72-foot-tall door opened and Sea Shadow motored out.

For reasons never made public, the Navy sidelined Sea Shadow in 1986. In 1993, the vessel was reactivated and spent several months undergoing hull stress tests in various sea states throughout the Channel Islands and off Point Conception.

After the 1993 tests, the Navy went public with Sea Shadow and openly operated it on San Francisco Bay. Shortly thereafter, the stealth ship was deactivated and towed inside its barge to San Diego, where it berthed at the 32nd Street pier.

The vessel was reactivated in 1999 and, in full view of surprised boaters, began transiting San Diego Harbor on a regular basis. The Sea Shadow project was cancelled in 2006.

The total cost of the stealth ship project was $195 million.

The vessel and barge were towed to San Francisco Bay and moored temporarily at Alameda Naval Air Station, according to published reports. On at least one occasion, Sea Shadow stunned Bay Area boaters by gliding under the Golden Gate Bridge, making a day trip to sea. Boneyard Fleet

The Navy soon moved the stealth ship to the Maritime Administration National Defense Reserve Fleet in Suisun Bay, a rather lofty term for boneyard, and struck Sea Shadow from its duty roster. (Historians will note that Sea Shadow never received the USS designation of an active duty Navy vessel).

But the Navy did not want Sea Shadow to spend the rest of its days moored with Suisun Bay’s rust bucket fleet. Hoping to preserve this piece of Cold War history, officials placed a “donation hold” on Sea Shadow and quietly worked to find a museum to host the stealth ship and barge.

Finding no takers, the Navy eventually advertised the giveaway in the Federal Register. The only interested party turned out to be the USS Ranger Foundation in Portland, Oregon. But the group, which is still negotiating to obtain the aircraft carrier, actually wanted Sea Shadow as barter for yard work for its aircraft carrier, according to published reports. That deal fell through and no other qualified suitor could be found.

Sources familiar with maritime museum operations point out that the stealth ship’s lack of traditional deck space and cramped interior makes conducting tours exceedingly difficult. Without tours turning turnstiles and generating cash flow, the stealth ship would likely languish in a sea of red ink.

Unwilling to pay to keep the ship afloat, the Navy recently decided to sell Sea Shadow through a Government Services Agency internet auction. Would-be buyers with dreams of converting the stealth ship into a boat and breakfast inn, or simply having the world’s coolest toy (the Darth Vader-like hull served as inspiration for the villain’s vessel in the 1997 James Bond movie “Tomorrow Never Dies”) had their collective hopes dashed when they read the auction’s fine print: Sea Shadow must be completely dismantled.

“Dismantling is defined as reducing the property such as it has no value except for its basic material content,” auction terms state. The winning bidder gets to keep Sea Shadow ’s barge, which does not need to be dismantled. The barge has a secret history of its own.

Hughes Mining Barge (HMB-1 ) was built for the Central Intelligence Agency in 1973 by Howard Hughes to salvage Soviet submarine K-129 after it sank in 16,000 feet of water northwest of the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1968. HMB-1 allegedly worked with Glomar Explorer to house a large claw that grappled the submarine and, after raising the stricken craft, concealed the recovered submarine.

Not Forgotten      Sea Shadow sits on death row, so to speak, its future certain. Sold at auction for $3.2 million, the ship will be stripped of useable parts before succumbing to dismantlers’ oxyacetylene torches. No doubt chunks of steel that once formed the former stealth vessel’s hull and superstructure will someday be unceremoniously dropped into a rail car and freighted to a foundry for repurposing: cars, high-rise offices, razor blades?

To help preserve Sea Shadow ’s memory, HNSA commissioned San Pedro photographer Bruce Ecker to capture images of the historic ship and barge. The Navy graciously granted Ecker five days aboard Sea Shadow in the summer of 2011. HNSA laced Ecker’s photos together to create a virtual tour with a drag and click feature that allows 360 degree viewing from various points aboard the ship and barge.

After spending its life avoiding detection, Sea Shadow will soon disappear permanently. Vestiges of the stealth ship may be viewed at hnsa.org.

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Super Hornet fighter jets on the deck of a US Navy aircraft carrier in the Red Sea are sporting Houthi drone kill marks

• US Navy fighter jets have spent months fending off Houthi threats around the Red Sea.
• Some of the aircraft have been seen sporting kill marks for the drones that they've shot down.
• The drone silhouettes appear to resemble the KAS-04, or Samad, system.

US Navy fighter aircraft that have been battling Houthi drones and missiles around the Red Sea appear to be sporting kill marks reflecting the threats they've eliminated.

A photo published by the Navy last week shows the silhouettes of two drones and 11 munitions painted on the side of an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, a lead ship in the US military's response to the ongoing Houthi attacks off the coast of Yemen.

The drone silhouettes painted on the side of the Navy Super Hornet appear to resemble the Houthis' KAS-04 system. The US military confirmed in November that it shot down an Iranian-made KAS-04 , which is also known as a Samad drone, but for the most part, the model of drones that American forces engage has not been disclosed.

Fighter jets belonging to the Eisenhower's carrier air wing , like the Super Hornet pictured, have been tasked with intercepting Houthi threats in the air and also bombing the Iran-backed rebels directly in Yemen through a mix of both unilateral preemptive strikes and coordinated strikes with US allies.

The munitions painted on the Super Hornet in last week's Navy photo appear to signal the number of bombs dropped by the aircraft in such strikes, according to the BBC, which captured its own images of the silhouettes during a recent embark on the Eisenhower.

Related stories

The specific meaning of the munition markings is unclear, but Business Insider observed similar markings on at least one fighter jet during a visit to the Eisenhower in the Red Sea last month.

The painted silhouettes photographed by BI, the BBC, and the Navy resemble kill marks, or victory marking, which typically refers to systems that were shot down by an aircraft's crew in aerial engagements. This practice has a long history dating back to World War I and has been used by other militaries beyond the US.

US Central Command, or CENTCOM, did not immediately respond to BI's request seeking clarification on the markings in the photo published by the Navy last week, nor did it specify what munitions have been released by fighter jets in the Ike's carrier air wing.

For months, US and allied warships and aircraft have been destroying deadly threats like anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles, one-way attack drones, and unmanned underwater and surface vessels, as they defend international shipping lanes off the coast of Yemen from unrelenting Houthi attacks.

Some of the Houthi missiles and drones have successfully scored hits on commercial ships transiting these key Middle Eastern waters, although the incidents mostly caused minor damage and did not prevent the vessels from continuing on with their journeys.

But in recent weeks, the Houthis have managed to both sink a vessel and kill civilian crew members for the first time in two separate attacks involving anti-ship ballistic missiles .

US forces are now engaging the Houthis — either through preemptive strikes or intercepting their threats in the air — on a routine basis, raising questions about the sustainability of the US-led coalition as it continues to expend resources and munitions.

Navy leadership, however, has stressed that Carrier Strike Group 2 — which consists of the Ike, four destroyers, and a cruiser — will stay in the region for as long as they're needed.

Pentagon officials continue to emphasize that the preemptive strikes in Yemen are chipping away at the Houthi arsenal and capabilities, but they acknowledge that the rebels continue to receive weaponry and support from Iran.

"We're under no impression that we have completely wiped off the map all of the Houthis' capabilities," Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh told reporters last week. "We know that they continue to have a robust arsenal, they continue to threaten commercial shipping."

Watch: What it's like on board a US aircraft carrier fighting Houthis in the Red Sea

• Main content

Putin navy suffers double blow as Ukraine 'hits' Konstantin Olshansky landing ship and reconnaissance vessel

V ladimir Putin’s navy suffered a fresh double blow as Ukraine hit the Konstantin Olshansky landing ship with a Neptune missile and damaged another vessel, say military sources.

The Konstantin Olshansky was seized by Russia from Ukraine ten years ago.

“Currently, this ship is not combat-capable,” said Ukrainian navy spokesperson Dmytro Pletenchuk.

Ukrainian officials are also stressing that attacks on the Russian naval base of Sevastopol , in annexed Crimea, on Saturday night caused more damage than originally assessed.

The Ukrainian military initially said it hit two large Russian landing ships, the Azov and Yamal, as well as a communications centre and other infrastructure used by the Russian navy in the Black Sea.

The Yamal was said to be taking on so much water that it was having to be continuously pumped out.

The officials added that the Konstantin Olshansky was struck with a Neptune anti-ship missile, sustaining damage that Kyiv was still assessing.

The Ivan Khurs reconnaissance vessel was also reported to have been hit.

There was no immediate comment from Russia.

The Konstantin Olshansky, previously a Ukrainian warship, was captured by Russia along with much of the Ukrainian navy in 2014 when the Kremlin's troops seized control of Crimea, the traditional base of the Black Sea Fleet.

Russia cannibalised the vessel for parts for other landing ships, Mr Pletenchuk said.

But Ukrainian strikes on large landing ships created a shortage and forced the Russian navy to prepare the ship to be brought back into service over the past year, he added.

"It had gone through a renovation and was being prepared for use against Ukraine, so unfortunately the decision was taken to strike this (ship)," he explained.

"Out of 13 (large landing ships), four have been destroyed, four are being repaired, and five are in working order," he said.

The Yamal and Azov warships that were also hit over the weekend have reportedly been taken for repairs.

Ukraine also said it was improving its sea drones , making them more powerful, which have so far proved effective against Putin’s navy.

Russia’s Black Sea Fleet has been pushed back from Crimea towards Russia and away from the western Black Sea after losing a string of vessels.

The flagship of the fleet, the Moskva, was sunk in spring 2022.

The losses and attacks on Sevastopol are believed to have impacted the navy’s capacity, as the Crimean port is believed to be one of the few where Kalibr missiles can be loaded onto vessels.

This type of missile has been only used to a limited extent in recent months, according to Ukrainian officials.

Ukraine shot down all 12 attack drones launched overnight by Russia, Kyiv’s air force said in a statement on Tuesday.

It added that the Iranian-made drones were destroyed over the southern Mykolaiv and eastern Kharkiv regions.

Russian forces were reported to be gradually seizing more territory in the Donetsk province of eastern Ukraine, but to be suffering heavy losses in their advances.

Ukrainian forces, hampered by munition shortages partly blamed on Republicans blocking a huge new military aid package to Kyiv, are facing difficulties holding some defences.

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