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ALEXANDRIA, Va. -- The huge vessel looks
quite out of place among the small yachts and sailboats at a shallow pier.
Neighborhood people on their morning jogs and dog walks looked amazingly at
the HSV 2 Swift on its four-day port call here March 30.
Many of those visiting the ship during an open house
about six miles from the Pentagon wondered how an 11,000-ton vessel could be
moored so close to dock. A look down at the depth mark on one of the vessel's
unique-style catamarans show it's floating in less than nine feet of water.
As tour guide Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Jorge
Flores, explained, "Not many captains could drive a vessel in less than
12 feet of water and still be the captain."
The HSV, which stands for high-speed vessel, may pave
the way forward in the Defense Department's transformation. The Army is
interested in how to get troops and equipment into the theater quicker. The
Navy is looking for a platform to conduct a variety of sea-based operations,
such as mine sweeping. The Swift has thus far proved it can do both.
The HSV 2 Swift may
one day become the Defense Department's transformation into the future. The
Swift floats on two sleek, wave-piercing catamarans and can travel at speed
of 42 knots or 85 plus kilometers per hour. The Navy has a two-year lease on
the vessel. The ship can berth as many as 350 troops when modified for a
deployment. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample.
The Swift is currently under Navy-Army joint testing
as the next platform for military operations in a littoral environment —
operations conducted very near the coast or shoreline.
In the past, the military has relied mostly on
airlift and sealift to deploy troops and equipment. Ocean travel has meant
slow, deep-draft vessels. However, the SWIFT has a lightweight aluminum hull,
which makes it fast and agile. It can even maneuver right up to the
shoreline.
Two companies primarily constructed the vessel.
Australian shipbuilder Incat, builds some of the world’s fastest vehicle and passenger
ferries, and Louisiana-based Bollinger Shipyards,
Inc., builds military patrol boats, offshore oil field support vessels, tugs,
rigs and lifeboats.
The Navy has a two-year lease on the Swift at a cost
of $21.7 million a year. The Swift is currently operating as an interim Mine
Warfare Command and Support Ship. It's undergoing testing for mine
countermeasures and as a sea-basing platform. The Swift is also being looked
at for other transformational modular mission payload initiatives.
The Army is evaluating two similar, leased ships, the
HSV-X1 Joint Venture and the TSV-1X Spearhead.
The Swift has a stern ramp capable of loading and
unloading a variety of military vehicles and can hold 615 metric tons of
equipment. For example, it can carry the 60-ton M-1A1 main battle tank.
The craft is also fitted with a load-compensating
crane that can launch and recover small boats and unmanned vehicles of up to
26,000 pounds while under way. A variety of helicopters can use its flight
deck.
But Navy officials say what also makes the Swift
unique is the vessel's high speed, shallow drafts, versatility and
maneuverability. Flores says the ship can
"turn on a dime" and when it comes to speed, no other Navy ship is
faster.
The Swift floats on two sleek wave-piercing
catamarans propelled by four jet- propulsion diesel engines, together
producing about 40,000 horsepower. The ship can reach up to 42 knots or
85-plus kilometers per hour — "warp speed" considering the average
Navy ship cruises at about 12 knots.
And Flores says that when under
attack, "Speed is my best friend."
"If there is a threat, I can get away from it to
eliminate that threat and at the same time I can use my ship's self-defense
weapons to neutralize the threat without placing the ship in danger."
The Swift's self-defense mechanism includes seven crew-served 25-50 mm
machine guns, and a grenade machine gun.
But the ship offers more than just speed. Its open
design allows it to be configured for a variety of military missions,
according to Navy Cdr. Clark Price, the vessel's captain.
"We can work with SEALs
one day, switch over to mine sweeping the next, then flight ops the
next," he said. "We can do multiple missions altogether -- that's
the great thing about this ship." Price pointed out the ship could even
be turned into a hospital in a day.
Since its maiden voyage, the Swift, which was
delivered to the Navy on Aug. 15,
2003, has already proven its versatility. The ship served in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom as a logistics base and a staging platform for Navy-
Marine SEAL teams operating off of Umm Qasr, Iraq. There the ship also tested
its mine-warfare capabilities.
Recently the Swift returned from Puerto Cortez, Honduras, after delivering 195
pieces of cargo, including tanker trucks, cranes, ambulances and construction
equipment to Navy and Army personnel there building schools and medical
clinics to help the local governments as part of a humanitarian mission.
Flores said the Swift was able to
unload cargo from heavy ships at sea and ferry it 120 miles to shore in about
three hours.
Before the Honduras exercise the Swift
completed West African Training Cruise- 04, an exercise designed to enhance
security cooperation between the United States and participating West
African nations. During the exercise 150 sailors and Marines conducted
littoral training, including riverine operations
and small-boat raids.
Although the decision on whether the Navy will
approve the SWIFT is still out to sea, the ship has already impressed the
crew.
Price says the ship has won his approval, "This
(ship) is just fun, it's state of the art equipment, it goes fast, it looks
nice, it is just a great time here."
"Everything we've done thus far has been
extremely successful," said Senior Chief Petty Officer Lawrence Naumann, the ship's senior enlister adviser, while explaining
the ship's advanced technical and communications capabilities to a tour
group.
"The amount of ground that we've covered
nautical-miles-wise, the amount of experimentation and exercises
that we've participated in is leap and bounds above what the Navy is
doing right now. ... The Navy really needs to take a hard look and keep an
open mind on this thing."
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