U.S. services test Aussie-built catamaran: High-speed vessel could operate both in deep seas and coastal waters, officials say.

With her twin aluminum hulls and needle nose, the Joint Venture high-speed vessel (HSV-X1) cast a strange silhouette, as she shoved off from the wharf at North Carolina's Morehead City one early morning this winter and sped our to participate in exercises in the Atlantic Ocean.

The Joint Venture is an Australian-built and owned, 313-foot catamaran, which the Pentagon is considering as a prototype for a new family of ships to perform a wide variety of functions for the U.S. Navy, Marines and Army in heavy seas and relatively shallow water.

A catamaran is descended from the long, narrow rafts--built over two or more boats--which have sailed the Indian Ocean for centuries. Today, it is popular around the world as a pleasure boat and commercial vessel, noted for its speed and safety.

The Joint Venture is one of a class of 38 so-called "wave-piercing" catamatans constructed in recent years for the commercial market by Incat Tasmania, of Hobart, Australia. These vessels were designed originally as car ferries for the waters of Australia and sold to other countries, such as Norway, Denmark and Japan, according to Incat Project Manager Nick Wells.

Powered by four sets of marine diesel engines, gas turbines and water jets capable of throwing out 18 tons of water per second, they are able to carry 600 passengers and 450 tons of cargo over thousands of nautical miles at speeds up to 48 knots, Wells said.

In early February, the Joint Venture shot across the Atlantic Ocean--from her current base at the Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, in Norfolk, Va., to Rota, Spain--in five days and 15 hours, Adm. Robert J. Natter, commander in chief of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet, told National Defense.

The U.S. Navy's fastest amphibious assault ships, in contrast, can cruise no faster than 24 knots, officials said. Furthermore, they require a draft of 26 feet of water to navigate. The Joint Venture can operate in only 12 feet of water, enabling it to come much closer to shore than traditional naval vessels, Woodhouse said.

Because the ship was originally designed as a car ferry, it has roll-on/roll-off capacity, making it easy to load and unload military vehicles, officials said. The twin-hull format, they said, helps make the vessel more stable in the water than traditional ships.

Also attractive to the Pentagon is the catamaran's modular interior design, said Rear Adm. Robert G. Sprigg, head of the Navy Warfare Development Command, of Newport, R.I., which is coordinating the three services' experiments with the vessel. The passenger space and cargo decks, with more than 41,000 square feet of storage capacity, are all easily reconfigurable, he said.

"The modular design opens up all of that space," Sprigg said. "We can change the mission of this ship literally in a matter of hours. It's almost as easy as changing the sheets."

Possible uses for such ships include insertion and extraction of special operations troops, mine warfare, anti-submarine warfare, surface warfare, maritime reconnaissance, command and control, humanitarian assistance and evacuation, force protection and re-supply at sea.

"There's tremendous opportunity here," said Sprigg. "I hate to use the word 'transformational,' because it's such a buzz word. But nuclear power was transformational, and so were aircraft carriers. I think this vessel qualifies, too."

U.S. military leaders first saw the high-speed catamarans in Australia, where they transported troops and supplies in exercises and operations, such as East Timor. In 2000, the Navy's USS Tarawa Amphibious Readiness Group conducted exercises off the Australian coast with one of the new catamarans, the Jervis Bay, which is leased by the Royal Australian Navy.

Intrigued by what they saw, the Marines last summer signed a six-month contract for such a vessel--built by Incat's Australian rival, Austal Ships Pty.--to move troops around islands of the Western Pacific, including Japan, Guam, the Marianas and the Philippines. They found that the Okinawa-based ship, the WestPac Express, could carry an entire reinforced Marine battalion, freeing up 10 aircraft and one ship for other purposes.

In January, at the end of the six-month trial, the Navy's Military Sealift Command awarded the firm a three-year, $31 million contract to continue the service. With reimbursables, the award could total more than $49 million, according to command spokesperson Marge Holtz.

Now, several component commands of the Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard have combined their resources to lease the Joint Venture for one year at a price of $21 million, with the possibility of another year's extension, Sprigg explained. Units in the experiment include the Army's Combined Arms Support Command, the Marine Corps Combat Development Command, the Coast Guard's Deep Water Project, the Office of Naval Research, the Navy Warfare Development Command and the Naval Special Warfare Command--home of the Sea, Air and Land (SEAL) teams.

The seagoing services had control of the ship for the first six months, with the Army taking over at that point. The Army, as part of its effort to improve its mobility, is looking for a platform that can move more troops and supplies than a C-17 air transport and move them faster than a traditional supply ship, officials said.

Before the services took possession of the ship last October, they spent about $3 million to modify it temporarily, Sprigg said. A flight deck was installed on the stern for SH-60 Seahawk and CH-46 Sea Knight helicopters. The vehicle ramp was upgraded to accommodate tracked vehicles. Some passenger seats were removed to make room for 325 Marines and their combat equipment. And the ship was painted traditional battleship gray.

All of the changes had to be done very carefully, because "we have to return the ship in the same condition that we found it," said the project manager, Navy Cmdr, Dean Chase, during a tour of the vessel. "If we remove a bulkhead (wall), we have to put it back."

Meal service also had to be improved, Chase pointed out. The Joint Venture was designed to be a car ferry, making only short trips, and it came with a snack bar, rather than a full-fledged Navy galley.

The snack hat has been revamped, adding microwave ovens and steam trays. While not up to traditional Navy standards, it now has four cooks, capable of serving three hot meals a day for the crew and passengers, Chase said.

Currently, the crew consists of 31 sailors and soldiers, including two women. The ship has sleeping accommodations for up to 45 crewmembers and 48 passengers, but that could be reconfigured quickly, Chase said.

Mine Warfare

The Navy and Marines tested the Joint Venture for a number of possible uses. For example, Navy Mine Countermeasures Squadron Two, based at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas, is looking for a replacement for its only current mine countermeasures command and control ship, the USS Inchon, which is being retired this year.

During exercises in the Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic Coast in December and January, the Joint Venture served as the command and control ship for a mine warfare readiness group of five other vessels. The squadron's commander, Navy Capt. Richard C. Rush, said the catamaran's capabilities enable him "to think out of the box." He added: "There are some things that you can do with this ship that you can't with a minesweeper, which only has a speed of eight to 10 knots."

The Joint Venture's speed, stability and shallow draft would be useful for mine warfare, which is often conducted close to shore under threat of enemy fire, Rush said.

The Navy Special Warfare Command also participated, placing a SEAL team aboard the Joint Venture to practice the high-speed launch and recovery of small boats. The SEAL commander, who declined to be identified, had little to say about his team's activities, but he was enthusiastic about the catamaran.

"This ship could do a lot for us," he said. The largest vessels assigned specifically to naval special warfare are 170-foot long Cyclone-class coastal patrol ships, which are little more than half the length of the Joint Venture and carry crews of 28, plus detachments of 25 SEALS.

Other passengers on the Joint Venture performed experiments with unmanned vehicles for use in mine and submarine warfare. For example, representatives from Science Applications International Corporation, of San Diego, launched an unmanned Harbor Security Vehicle, called the OWL.

About 10 feet long, with a draft of 7 inches, the OWL is designed to conduct a wide variety of force protection, surveillance and reconnaissance missions in very shallow and medium depth littoral waters, according to SAIC spokesman Peter Renfree. It can patrol harbor areas 24 hours a day, seven days a week, refueling once a day, he said. It can carry a number of sensors, including underwater, night and thermal video cameras, forward-looking and side-scan sonar, and laser range finders.

While the experiments were going on, the Joint Venture's crew was evaluating the ship. "I love it," said the skipper, Navy Capt. Phil Beierl. "It's incredibly maneuverable. More-head City is not an easy channel, and I can pull in and out with no assistance. I don't even need line handlers."

Navy Vice Adm. Cutler Dawson, commander of the Second Fleet, who landed by helicopter to tour the vessel, also was impressed. The ship that the Navy needs "may not look exactly like this one," he said, but "this is a technology that we can leverage." The Navy already has identified possible alterations, including:

* A larger flight deck to accommodate several helicopters at a time.

* An elevator capable of moving heavy equipment between decks.

* A second, heavier vehicle ramp, capable of handling 70-ton Abrams tanks.

* Light armor, such as Kevlar, and self-defense and limited strike weapons for combat operations.

There is room for such additions in future ships, Chase noted, pointing out that high-speed catamarans can be built 20 percent longer and move faster than the Joint Venture.

The Navy can work our these design issues with shipbuilders, Natter said. "The bottom line is that I'd like to have two of these ships right now," he said.

To make it easier to land Navy contracts, the two Australian firms have partnered with U.S. shipbuilders. Incat has allied itself with Bollinger Shipyards Inc., of Lockport, La., and Austal has paired with Bender Shipbuilding & Repair Co. Inc., of Mobile, Ala.

Even if the Pentagon decides that the catamaran meets user needs, however, the Navy isn't likely to buy any in the immediate future. The service plans to fund only five new ships in fiscal year 2003. Also, the catamarans will have to compete against other experimental vessels that are being tested.

But the Bush administration does intend to increase shipbuilding in the years ahead, said Navy Secretary Gordon R. England. And high-speed vessels, such as the Joint Venture, "will be key components" in those plans, he said.