Navy Speedster Doubles Up On Cutting-Edge Technology

A crew of 26? I'd like to see how they handle damage control after a USS COLE type of incident.

I have to correct the press release. The FSF-1 was actually built, as in constructed, by Nichols Brothers Shipbuilding on Whidbey Island, in my very own backyard, so to speak. Titan was the main integrating contractor, but Nichols cut and welded the steel and built the ship in Freeland. I drove by it many times in the yard while it was being built. The initial sea trials took place on Puget Sound, and it was moored at Naval Station Everett for a bit. I have to say that I saw news clips of it cranked up at speed out in the Sound, and it looked pretty darn impressive.

I'm sorry, I've just got to say it...

I can see the beauty in almost any boat, but that is without question the UGLIEST thing I've ever seen afloat! And I'm a multihull fan!

It looks like a flippin' car ferry, where are the evil looking things sticking out that say "Don't mess with me" ?????

They keep all the DMWM's down inside the deck, and when you mess with it, they come shootin' out, like a stealth porcupine, or somesuch.



~Slam_Fire

Yea, I wonder about damage control. It is clear congress set the military on a course to use technology to reduce manpower requirement. Great in theory, sucks in practice. The military, during war in particular, experiences times when things don't go according to plan and ugly things happen. To the best of my understanding damage control is a labor intensive activity.

So if you need a crew of 150 to deal with reasonable damage control needs, how do you do it with 75?

Any squids out there who will comment?

Man is that UGLY! Not near as pretty as the Perry class in the background!

Not knowing anything about DC on the new ship I have to assume that they have "integrated" that also so that it can be handled by the Computers!
IMHO
Bad Idea. Somebody has to cut and brace shoring, plug holes, setup eductors and pumps, fight the fires etc.
On a Perry class you have approx 190 crew and Officers. At GQ ~50% of those are at damage control stations ready to respond to damage.

Apparently the lessons learned from USS Stark and USS Samual B. Roberts (FFG-58, No Higher honor , The "Sammy B" ) have become to expensive to remember.

Good point for her 2 hulls = twice as many water tight compartments
I wonder if it will still float with one hull flooded?
Bad 2 Hulls= twice as much water line.

I dont give a crap what it looks like, can it launch missiles?

Besides, it cost 80$ million, thats cheap compared to alot of other more common use equipment.

My first thought was like KriegHund's. Who cares about DC, it's inexspensive enough, let it sink! A reincarnation of the LST or Liberty.

A New Design for a New Mission
The Sea Fighter is an aluminum catamaran designed to operate effectively in littoral, or coastal, waters. It can maneuver in as little as 11 feet (3.35 m) of water. The hull number FSF-1 stands for "fast sea frame" and is the first U.S. Naval vessel to have a catamaran design. The experimental vessel will be used to test the hydrodynamic performance, structural performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility and propulsion-system efficiency of high-speed vessels.
Photo courtesy U.S. NavyA multi-purpose stern ramp will allow Sea Fighter to launch and recover manned and unmanned surface and sub-surface vehicles up to the size of a Rigid-Hull Inflatable Boat.
The ship's design is flexible to meet the needs of multiple missions. More than 12 20-foot mission modules can be housed in the ship's mission bay, which allows the vessel to be quickly reconfigured to support a variety of potential tasks including battle force protection, mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, amphibious assault support and humanitarian support.
A multi-purpose stern ramp allows the ship to launch and recover manned and unmanned surface and sub-surface vehicles up to the size of an 11-meter Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB). From its flight deck, the Sea Fighter can operate while supporting two H-60 helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (VTUAV) at a time.
To reduce vibration and noise, many of the ship's internal surfaces are covered with a coating of QuietShip, a viscoelastic polymer that can be applied to aluminum, steel and composite-hull vessels. The coating offers naval ship builders a way to reduce noise by up to 70 percent, according to developer Quiet Solution. On the Sea Fighter, QuietShip reduces noise by 15 decibels.
A New Design for a New Mission
The Sea Fighter is an aluminum catamaran designed to operate effectively in littoral, or coastal, waters. It can maneuver in as little as 11 feet (3.35 m) of water. The hull number FSF-1 stands for "fast sea frame" and is the first U.S. Naval vessel to have a catamaran design. The experimental vessel will be used to test the hydrodynamic performance, structural performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility and propulsion-system efficiency of high-speed vessels.
The ship's design is flexible to meet the needs of multiple missions. More than 12 20-foot mission modules can be housed in the ship's mission bay, which allows the vessel to be quickly reconfigured to support a variety of potential tasks including battle force protection, mine countermeasures, anti-submarine warfare, amphibious assault support and humanitarian support.
A multi-purpose stern ramp allows the ship to launch and recover manned and unmanned surface and sub-surface vehicles up to the size of an 11-meter Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat (RHIB). From its flight deck, the Sea Fighter can operate while supporting two H-60 helicopters or vertical takeoff and landing tactical unmanned aerial vehicles (VTUAV) at a time.
Photo courtesy U.S. NavyFrom its flight deck, the Sea Fighter will be able to support 24-hour-a-day operations for up to two H-60 helicopters or VTUAVs.
To reduce vibration and noise, many of the ship's internal surfaces are covered with a coating of QuietShip, a viscoelastic polymer that can be applied to aluminum, steel and composite-hull vessels. The coating offers naval ship builders a way to reduce noise by up to 70 percent, according to developer Quiet Solution. On the Sea Fighter, QuietShip reduces noise by 15 decibels.
he Sports Car of the Seas
Compared to larger, conventional warships, the Sea Fighter is faster and more agile. Some have compared its performance to that of sports car. The Sea Fighter can reach a top speed of 50 knots (57.5 mph, 92.6 kph) with a full payload and is designed to reach speeds of 40 knots (46 mph, 74 km/hr) in rough seas with waves up to 7 feet (2.13 meters).
The Sea Fighter has four Rolls Royce Kamewa 125 SII waterjets, which deliver a combined 50.4 megawatts of power and offer great maneuverability. The independent waterjets make sideways movement possible, simplifying operations and berthing.
Photo courtesy U.S. NavyWaterjet tunnel under construction
Photo courtesy U.S. NavyHousing for two of the four waterjets under construction
The waterjets are powered by two GE LM2500 gas turbine engines and two MTU 16-valve propulsion diesel engines.
FSF-1 Sea Fighter: Facts and Figures· Length: 262 feet (79.86 meters) · Width: 72 feet (22 meters) · Weight: 950 tons · Engines: 2 GE LM2500 gas turbine engines; 2 MTU 16V 595 TE90 propulsion diesel engines; 4 Rolls-Royce Kamewa 125SII waterjets · Operating crew: 26 · Top speed: 50 knots (57.5 mph, 92.6 kph) · Cost of experimental ship: $80 million
The Crew
Changes to the crew are nearly as revolutionary as the ship's design. The small Sea Fighter requires a crew of just 26 (16 Navy sailors and 10 Coast Guardsmen). The crew is made up of five officers and 21 enlisted personnel. With such a small crew, each member must be very knowledgeable of the ship and balance multiple duties.
Photo courtesy U.S. NavyThe Sea Fighter is a small ship that offers great mission flexibility.
"The thing that's really unique about this crew is that since there's only 26 of us, the engineers can't concentrate just on engineering and the navigators can't just concentrate on navigation," said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Brandon Bryan. "Everyone has to know everyone else's business. So my engineers know how to drive the ship, my guys who drive the ship know how to go down and start the diesel."
The mix of Navy and Coast Guard crew will also provide a cross-section of expertise that can be used for various missions.
"I think the Navy brings their vast experience of operating in a Department of Defense environment," said Coast Guard Chief Operations Specialist John Leary. "And the Coast Guard will bring its unique international boarding authority that we have for international activities. Plus, we have more experience manning ships with smaller crews."
Inside the ship, the crew sleeps in three-man staterooms, a major difference from the large communal compartments on most naval ships. The ship can also be configured to accommodate a crew of men and women.
While the Sea Fighter is a test vehicle, elements of it will be used in other future Navy and Coast Guard ships, including the larger Littoral Combat Ship and the Coast Guard's Deepwater concept.
For more information on the Sea Fighter and related topics, check out the links on the next page.

It's just a larger version of the Deck Boat. I like crew on the smaller one though.







BTW, wanna see the first luxury twin engine Deck Boat that can run 80MPH with 8-10 people aboard.........Luxury Cat

The Sea Fighter is an aluminum catamaran designed to operate effectively in littoral, or coastal, waters. It can maneuver in as little as 11 feet (3.35 m) of water. The hull number FSF-1 stands for "fast sea frame" and is the first U.S. Naval vessel to have a catamaran design. The experimental vessel will be used to test the hydrodynamic performance, structural performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility and propulsion-system efficiency of high-speed vessels.

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Folks, Pward had it right... This is an EXPERIMENTAL vessel to allow us to do multiple types of testing on a variety of systems and "other" things. Sea Fox is NOT the new Navy ship design. It follows TSV-1 and HSV-2 and is the first US built high speed SWATH ship. It is commanded by a LCDR simply due to it's small size and is crewed by a mixed USN/USCG crew because there are also a number of USCG initatives involved with the design.

And no, it's not pretty, but it doesn't have to be, it's designed to be effective at its primary mission

The folks that will be riding her could care less about window views and suites... all they want is for the systems to work.

And you're right 280, there is a lot of redundancy built in, fail closed rather than open and standard X, Y and Z conditions that are a little more stringent than you saw.

So does it have some of the low radar signature stuff as well? I guess that is why someone said the toys are kept below deck until needed.

So does it have some of the low radar signature stuff as well? I guess that is why someone said the toys are kept below deck until needed.

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Not really MechAg, it's more a function of maximizing internal spaces to support a variety of configurations and vans. Although I'm pretty sure its RCS will be less than current fleet ships; DDX and some of the other designs are pushing the low RO/RCS more in the warfighting arena.

Here's a link to DDX- http://peoships.crane.navy.mil/ddx/default.htm

I missed the experimental part. I was thinking it was the first of a new class too. Is there a ship's store?

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Not yet 280 But I'm sure there will be

I haven't had a chance to see her up close, but the Master Chief got back last week and he said there was a "lot" of automation in the condition setting. She is still completing basic trials down in Diego, and starts work ups in a few months. I think mixing the CODAG with with pump jets is going to be really interesting... Remember the PHM's? Those were a real E-ticket ride

Good point for her 2 hulls = twice as many water tight compartments
I wonder if it will still float with one hull flooded?
Bad 2 Hulls= twice as much water line.

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Most small multihulls will float with one hull flooded. I have a trimaran with 6 watertight compartments, any two of which will float the boat, though not very high.

Waterline length is actually a good thing for displacement type hulls, but this is a planing hull. Even on planing hulls, multihulls often have less wetted surface, which is the real drag number. That's why they are faster.

Most ocean powerboat racing teams have at least two boats: a multihull for when it's reasonably calm, and a monohull for rough conditions. The multihull is faster, not to mention more stable, but it can't take really big waves as well.

A buddy of mine was on a Coast Guard boat when it rolled 360 degrees. Yikes! He's lucky it was not a multihull. Multihulls never, ever roll 360 degrees, but they sometimes roll 180.

Are they using steam for hotel srvices or is it all electric now?

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I don't know 280 plus, but I'm guessing its electronic now. And ya, I was talking about Pegasus

And yeah, bad wx gets interesting.... we used to do over 70 degree rolls... Oh wait a minute, I wuz in an airplane, guess that don't count...

Seriously, regardless of platform, high sea state operations become a matter of sea keeping and head into the seas... and ride that bucking bronco!!!

So does it just carry missles or does it actually have some guns on it?

I too was thinking about how she would handle with a big wave over the bow or a 45 degree roll.

My father was in a typhoon back in 1944 where they lost 2 DD's. The carriers looked like billboards.