Newest Ship In The Army
35 knots is 40 mph. 45 knots is 52 mph. Pretty damn fast for a cargo boat.
Wow! It’s a lot slicker than the converted LST Benowah my Dad served on in Vietnam..
the Swift’s aluminum hull draws only 11.15 feet of water.
Aside from being able to operate in shallow coastal waters, seems to me that these might do fairly well in all navigable rivers. When you get right down to it, the Army is better suited than the Navy for river combat/supply/reinforcement.
Of course, only actual combat experience will tell, but I’m impressed.
Nah, USS is correct Drew, as it denotes Unites States Ship.
The Army has had more ships than the Navy for a long time, mostly logistics craft and landing vessels.
I think that the Navy will probably find limited use for this hull, since transport duty for them is limited, besides the Marines. I can see it as a decent anti-sub platform with the dual ‘copters, LAMPS anyone? However, with the hull being as light as it is, I don’t see any heavy weaponry..Just a thought..
BillDoc, with that nice wide beam I bet it could make a dandy missile platform or UAV carrier. Imagine one so chock-full of launchers it looks like a hedgehog. It might be torpedo resistant with such a shallow draft too.
On the other hand, an aluminum hull won’t even stop rifle bullets will it? I know armor is passe, but I think a military ship ought to at least be bulletproof.
Well.. it would be more stable than a single hull, which is the purpose, but it would have trouble stopping a pellet rifle, if the info I have is correct. They would have to reinforce it with Kevlar or some equivalent. Missiles would be good, but they would have to reinforce the decks due to the physics of 9k pounds of thrust against the mounts. The missiles on a frigate have an armor ring that extends 2 decks down that would probably eat into the payload of this ship.
Oh, and an aluminum alloy is used on most newer Navy vessels for the hull, at least since the first Oliver Hazard Perry classes slid down the ways.
They had problems with structural cracks, though this was remedied later. The thin material in the JHSVs would need a LOT of reinforcement, which would slow it down considerably. It would be like using a 8 gauge punt gun on an aluminum dingy.. As my Great Uncle Alphonse would tell you after it ripped the bow off. “Dat was a bad idea, I tell ya what.”
Just a though…
Bill"On the other hand, an aluminum hull won’t even stop rifle bullets will it?”
Not only is it unarmored but aluminum burns rather easily. Just ask the British sailors that survived the Falklands.
Posted by NavyGunner
07/24/2010 at 11:18 PM
This is true.. A lesson learned by the HMS Sheffield, Burned until she sank from a single Exocet missile, even though it didn’t explode.. was ignited by the rocket.. Cast aluminum shatters as well. Not good for a fighting ship.
An observation,
Bill
