The 'top secret' stealth boats designed for Navy SEALs that are regularly spotted on the Columbia

Daily Mail ^ | 16:45 EST, 30 May 2014 | Daily Mail Reporter

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• For more than a decade there have been sightings of unusual high-speed watercraft patrolling up and down the Columbia River
• It isn't clear if Sealion ll has ever even become semi-operational, but the program remains active because new boats keep appearing on the river

The Navy's intention was to use the craft as a medium-range method of transporting SEALs without being appearing on the enemy's radar

Known simply as Sealion, it measured 71 feet and required a crew of one or two sailors to operate. It was capable of 40 knots under normal conditions and no less than 30 knots in sea states as high as level five.

A rear opening garage-like door would allow for deployment and recovery of these craft with relative ease and without compromising the boat's stealth capabilities for more than a short period of time

It appears to have been a refinement of the original design and is rumored to have offered an even lower radar cross section than its predecessor, but was also big enough to carry an unspecified number of SEALs and a modular mission payload.

The state-of-the-art electronics suite included a retractable FLIR turret, communications array and radar, along with a highly automated command and control system.

Another supposed benefit of the Sealion ll was that it could be used to sneak up on a moving target, such as a large ship.

Even boaters who have spotted a Sealion visually as it is semi-submerged say that it does not show up on their commercial grade radars, which is at least some proof to the Sealion's cloaking capabilities

[coloradan]

That one’s stealth except for the black smoke, which can be seen for 20 miles. But other than that, it’s pretty stealth.

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Vancouver WA, I bet.

One must pass an incompetence test to be a reporter.