Experimental high-speed catamaran tapped for Mideast deployment

The Virginian -Pilot | 19 January 2003 | Jack Dorsey

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Experimental high-speed catamaran tapped for Mideast deployment

BY Jack Dorsey The Virginian-Pilot

VIRGINIA BEACH — An experimental Australian owned catamaran that can do nearly 50 mph and carry 300 troops is among the latest — and strangest — additions to the military’s growing list of hardware being readied for a possible war with Iraq.
    Based out of Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base for the past 18 months, the 370-foot, twin-hulled aluminum ship has been tapped for deployment and is scheduled to leave soon, probably this week.
    Officials declined to say how they will use the unusual wave-piercing

ship, named Joint Venture HSV-X1. It is being leased for $20 million a year under a joint program administered by the Army, but also is being operated by Navy, Marine Corps and Special Operations forces.
    The ship carries a helicopter and has been used in a variety of roles: as a base and delivery vehicle for special operations forces, as a base for underwater vehicles for mine warfare, and as a medical treatment station that delivered patients to a hospital ship.
    ‘‘The most obvious use is . .. for moving equipment and people both long and short distances,’’ said John Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Navy Warfare Development Command in Newport, R.I. The vessel does almost 40 knots, or 46 mph, fully loaded, so it can cover more than 400 miles in 10 hours, he said.
    The Joint Venture can carry a crew of 30 to 35, depending on its mission.
    It has been moved back and forth between Little Creek, where the Navy operates it, and Newport News, where the Army’s Transportation Center has used it during the past two years.
    ‘‘It has been very successful,’’ Woodhouse said of the experiments the services have conducted with the ship.
    The Navy is expecting delivery late this summer of the HSV-X2, a second ship that will have a larger flight deck for two helicopters and a hangar so the aircraft can remain aboard.
    The Army is expecting delivery of asimilar vessel in the spring,a Theater Support Vessel, or TSV-1X.
    Adm. Robert J. Natter, commander of the Atlantic Fleet, endorsed the Navy’s version last summer and said he wants to use it as a command ship for mine warfare. The Navy was spending about $43 million annually to operate the Inchon, a 32-year-old ship built to carry helicopters and amphibious vehicles that has been converted to mine warfare. The new ship would be manned by a crew roughly one-seventh went six weeks of technical and structural
modifications to meet the military’s
requirements.
    Modifications included the building vehicle ramp that allows rapid loading and unloading of vehicles from the stern or alongside it.
    The Joint Venture is believed to be the ship that caused two ships in the James River Reserve Fleet to list Aug. 26 after their mooring lines snapped as the catamaran, en route to Fort Eustis, sped past and created a powerful wake.

The Joint Venture, an Australian-owned catamaran, is being leased and operated by the U.S. services.

Frederick McCahan/U.S. NAVY

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I've seen this , it's cool.

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[Riley]

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More pics here.

[Dark Wing]

ping

[guitfiddlist]

The Joint Venture, an Australian-owned catamaran, is being leased and operated by the U.S. services.

I guess the Aussies are serious about winning the America's Cup.

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Some additional pics are here

I saw this craft making its way down the James River a few months back.

[MD_Willington_1976]

Yeah so have I, I hope they build them a lot sturdier for the military

[Darksheare]

Is this the first time an experimental vessel has been tapped for use in war?

[Redleg Duke]

Waxman looks like some sort of alien floorsweeping out of a Star Trek episode!

[Darksheare]

My God! Waxman's nose is an alien implant!
It's almost as evil as the THING on SAM DONALDSON'S Head!

[livius]

Pretty impressive! But maybe the Monitor and the Merrimac qualify as the first experimental vessels used for warfare (in the US, at any rate)?

[Darksheare]

True, true...
I kinda had in mind modern warfare, kinda fell into the problem we all run into of thinking only in 'modern' terms.
Thanks for the remind.
Also the Hunley, and the Turtle.. now that I think of it.