UN Navy's new 50-knot experimental ship comes a-callin'

[OtakuLoki]

Well, nominally, as a sailing vessel - you’d have right of way…

(So, do you want a fancy envelope for your remains, or would a generic manilla one do?)

[tomndebb]

…you steer under its bow (but NOT on the centerline). Basically it is a super fancy tri-hull with outriggers. At speed, it is supposed to be nearly out of the water riding on air. So (as long as you are tough enough to survive the vortex beneath the hull) you should be able to slip right underneath it. (Or you could simply dive deep. It only draws three feet of water, so if you can stay down six feet for the .9 second it will take to pass over you, you should be able to avoid the screws.)

[OtakuLoki]

[quote=tomndebb]
(Or you could simply dive deep. It only draws three feet of water, so if you can stay down six feet for the .9 second it will take to pass over you, you should be able to avoid the screws.)

[quote]

tomndebb, actually, with a waterjet design - I don’t think it’s got screws to worry about. Mind you, getting sucked into the intakes for those jets isn’t exactly what I’d consider conducive to a long and healthy life…

[ralph124c]

@OtakuLoki

And no survivability for combat damage, or even a simple fire. In fact some of the projected construction details for these ships gives me the screaming willies: staterooms for all crewmembers? That means false bulkheads - and that’s a breeding ground for fire. Don’t get me wrong: living in open-bay barracks sucks. But there are sound damage control reasons for preferring that kind of construction over staterooms.

I understand all the arguments for DD(X) and similar vessels, don’t get me wrong. And my reservations may be nothing more than the age-old “But that t’warn’t how we done it,” of older generations. But from what I’ve heard there’s still a rather fierce debate going on in Proceedings and other naval warfare circles about these vessels.

I read that the Swedish warship is built of carbon fiber-metal composit. I don’t know how flammable that stuff is-but I’m sure they have tested it. I also think that as a staelth warship, they aren’t planning to get hit!

[OtakuLoki]

Ralph, the problem isn’t the hull material burning - it’s the paint, or the insulation on wires, or piping. If that’s going on behind a false bulkhead - you need thermal imagers to even be aware that there is a fire. Then you have to open up the false bulkhead - speaking from my experience not all false bulkheads were properly built with maintenance access points. Esp. if there is a major refit in the ship’s history. The fire can spread beyond the compartment you’re in. You can put out what you think is the main fire, only to have a reflash 15-20 minutes later from smoldering insulation that never got cooled down. And that fire can burn for another 30 minutes or so, until it ignites the paint on the other side of the false bulkhead before it gets noticed. Spreading all the while.

It’s all the disadvantages of fighting a fire in a normal house, without the one major advantage: You can’t easily evacuate in extremis and safely watch the structure burn.

The logic seems to be to make naval units into oversized tanks: They’re impressive as Hell, but they aren’t really expected to survive damage. (Survive hits, yes. Damage? No.)