MSC partners with maritime industry for experimental catamaran charter
The ship will provide an interim, partial replacement for the Navy's recently decommissioned mine warfare ship, USS Inchon, and will serve as an experimental platform to determine the capabilities of high speed catamaran hulls in support of future Naval designs and acquisitions. The contract, awarded to a Louisiana-based company, may exceed $53.5 million if all four options are exercised.
"High-speed vessels have become interesting to Navy surface warfare doctrine planners, as well as the Marine Corps combat development folks," said Vice Adm. David L. Brewer III, USN, commander of MSC. "The vessels are fast, versatile and capable of a variety of configurations and missions profiles."
"The high-speed vessel will support the concepts of the Chief of Naval Operation's Seapower 21 initiatives," said Chris Thayer, director of the MSC Strategic Planning Directorate.
There are three aspects to the CNO's Seapower 21 vision -- offensive capabilities labeled Sea Strike; defensive capabilities labeled Sea Shield; and the idea of projecting U.S. sovereignty on the oceans labeled Sea Basing. According to the CNO, these initiatives will help improve Navy readiness by taking the fight to the enemy.
"In order to achieve these initiatives MSC is taking advantage of the research and development of commercial technologies and practices to see how they might be militarily useful," said Thayer. "One of the key transformational processes instituted by the CNO is Sea Trial -- putting the fleet at the heart of innovation. New technologies -- particularly advanced hull forms -- are now being evaluated as potential candidates to fulfill Navy missions and support future sea basing initiatives."
The high-speed catamaran is a bare-boat charter, which means the Navy will lease the ship without the crew. Navy personnel will crew the ship. The aluminum-hulled, 319-foot commercial catamaran is based on existing high-speed ferry designs with military alterations including a helicopter flight deck and hanger; small boat/unaccompanied vehicle launch and recovery capability; modifiable berthing compartments; ramps for military vehicles; and an advanced communications suite.
The ship is currently being constructed and modified in Australia and is expected to deliver to MSC in June 2003 and will support three customers: Commander, Mine Warfare Command, Ingleside, Texas; Navy Warfare Development Command, Newport, R.I.; and the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command.
"This vessel, which will be capable of speeds up to 40 knots and has a very shallow draft -- less that 14 feet -- will conduct experiments and training events for both the Navy and Marine Corps to determine the vessel's usefulness in other military applications," said Vice Adm. Brewer.
"MSC's expertise in executing contracts of this nature . . . ensured that the government is getting a quality product at a fair price," said Cmdr. Dean Chase, high speed vessel project director at the Navy Warfare Development Command.
"MSC will continue to cultivate relationships with industry that allow us to apply commercial approaches to meet the requirements of the Department of Defense and other government agencies," said Thayer.
The Navy's Military Sealift Command, is the ocean transportation provider for the Department of Defense. The command operates more than 120 active ships daily around the world. Ship missions vary from the transport and afloat prepositioning of defense cargo; to underway replenishment and other direct support to Navy ships at sea; to at-sea data collection for the U.S. military and other U.S. government agencies.
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