USS Sea Shadow (IX-529)
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
| |
| Career | 
|
|---|---|
| Ordered: | 22 October 1982 |
| Delivered: | 1 March 1985 |
| Commissioned: | |
| Decommissioned: | |
| Fate: | Active in service as of 2005. |
| Struck: | |
| General Characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 563 tons |
| Length: | 164 ft |
| Beam: | 68 ft |
| Draft: | 15 ft |
| Propulsion: | |
| Speed: | |
| Range: | |
| Depth: | |
| Complement: | |
| Armament: | |
USS Sea Shadow (IX-529) is an experimental ship created by the United States Navy.
She was built in 1985 to examine the application of low-observence technology, or the creation of a small radar signature, to naval ships and the ability to man a ship with fewer men using more automation. The ship was created by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA; now known as DARPA), the U.S. Navy and the Lockheed Martin corporation. The Sea Shadow was developed at Lockheed Martin's Redwood City, California facility, inside the Hughes Mining Barge, which functioned as a floating drydock during construction and testing.
Sea Shadow doesn't have traditional rudders. Aft stabilizers and forward canards on the inboard side of its submerged twin hulls control steering. Combined with the angled sides, this also helps the ship remain stable even in very rough water of up to sea state five, which means waves of up to 18-feet high.
The T-AGOS 19-and-23-class oceanographic ships have inherited the stabilizer and canard method to help perform their stability-sensitive surveillance missions.
Sea Shadow has only 12 bunks aboard, one small microwave oven, a refrigerator and table. She was never intended to be mission capable and was never commissioned, although she is listed in the Naval Vessel Register.
See Also
External links
Navy news article (http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=11028)
