“Experimental Sea Slice The experimental Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull ship “Sea Slice” returns to its homeport of Naval Station San Diego, Calif., Nov. 30, 2005. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 2nd Class Zack Baddorf”
If you read this blog odds are you know what the LCS is (the Littoral Combat Ship) and that two versions of that frigate that isn’t and part time minesweeper exist. Well this is a trails ship from 1996 that was used as a testbed of sorts by Lockheed Martin. You see in the early 90s the original LCS concept was for a whole host of small, expendable ships, a street-fighter concept, that could go and get down and dirty in shallow water.
Aerial view of the experimental Small Waterplane Area Twin Hull (SWATH) ship Sea Slice, an experimental ship built by Lockheed-Martin, operating off the coast of Port Hueneme, CA., 3 August 2002, during Fleet Battle Experiment Juliet (FBE-J). Fleet Battle Experiment Juliet is a joint warfighting experiment combining both live field forces and computer simulation at various locations throughout the United States during “Millennium Challenge 2002” (MC-02). Millennium Challenge is the nation’s premier joint integrating event, bringing together both live field exercises and computer simulations throughout the Department of Defense. Note; Sea Slice is carrying modular mission packages, which simulate the US Navy’s proposed Littoral Combat Ship (LCS). The modular mission packages provide a range of warfare capabilities, including Mine Countermeasures (MCM), Antisubmarine Warfare (ASW), Force Protection and Time Critical Targeting. Some of its weapons tested during FBE-J include the joint Lockheed Martin and Oerlikon Contraves 35mm Millennium Gun and the NetFires System and launcher, intended to launch Loitering Attack Munitions (LAM).US Navy photo #’s, 020802-N-2706D- by JO2 Terry Dillon. Via Navsource
The Navy tested a number of small-waterplane-area twin-hull (SWATH) designs that now continue as the Fast Sea Frame concept. One of these was the HSV Sea Slice
How she looks today minus her teeth. This would turn a head at the local small craft harbor
While that company went with a more traditional mono-hull design for its successful entry to the program, you can see a lot of scaled down similarities in the Sea Slice, a 105-foot multihull that is for sale for a meager $180,000.
Stern
When you consider that your typical USCG 87-foot patrol boat runs some $3 million on the sticker price, this one-off ship, even though its 20 years old, seems a comparative steal. Gone however are the “35-mm Millennium Gun; NetFires missile launching system; FLIR Systems Inc. furnished Forward-Looking Infrared sensors; and a complete combat information center with the Lockheed Martin developed COMBATSS command and control core architecture system utilizing Q-70 VALIANT consoles as well as Time Critical Targeting technology for precision strike,” she carried a decade ago.
Heck, it cost the Navy $15 milly to build.
This thing screams party barge
Specs
LOA: 105 ft 0 in
Beam: 55 ft 0 in
Minimum Draft: 11 ft 6 in
Maximum Draft: 14 ft 0 in
Displacement: 472640 lbs
Dry Weight: 378560 lbs
Total Power: 6960 HP from 2 16V396TB94 MTU Pod drive diesels, 2 Cat 3606 gennies
Cruising Speed: 23 knots
Maximum Speed: 30 knots
Fresh Water Tanks: 2 (400 Gallons)
Fuel Tanks: (11112 Gallons)
Accommodations
Number of single berths: 12
Number of cabins: 5
Number of heads: 1
Seating Capacity: 149
All that’s missing is a margarita machine
