Unusual ship visits Mayport after 6-month deployment to African waters
The catamaran design hints at its unique ability and speed at sea.
By Jeff Brumley Wed, Oct 5, 2011 @ 3:02 pm
| updated Thu, Oct 6, 2011 @ 9:17 am PhotosJEFF BRUMLEY/The Times-UnionThe HSV-2 Swift maneuvers to the pier at Mayport Naval Station Wednesday, concluding a six-month mission to Africa. The high-speed ship is operated by a military and civilian crew. HSV-2 Swift is an odd ship no matter how you slice it.
It sports a catamaran design with knife-like hulls that enable it to carry cargo, troops or humanitarian aid through water barely a dozen feet deep. It doesn't have rudders or propellers because it's propelled by directional water jets.
The ship has a minimum crew of 35 - 17 civilian, 18 military - who routinely rotate with other sailors to keep the ship deployed 11 months a year.
Unlike most other vessels that pull into Mayport Naval Station, as it did Wednesday morning after a six-month deployment in African waters, Swift can spin on a dime and move forward and backward in the basin without the aid of tugboats.
"We're aluminum, so we crinkle like a beer can if a tug pushes up against us," said Lt. Cmdr. Ken Creameans, the officer in charge of its "Gold" crew, which runs Swift's deployment to the Caribbean and Latin America beginning in November.
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The ship is based in Virginia but stopped in Mayport, where its deployment began, so some of its personnel could participate in meetings with Jacksonville-based 4th Fleet. It's due to leave today for repairs in Charleston.
The history and mission of Swift is just as unusual as its design and movements.
Australian-built
It was built eight years ago by an Australian company as a commercial vessel, then given military upgrades. The Navy leased it for four years before turning it over to the Military Sealift Command. The ship is still used by the Navy but owned by Sealift Inc., a company that provides maintenance and civilian crew members.
That arrangement has enabled the Navy to test the concept of using an all-aluminum, catamaran design as a transport ship, especially in humanitarian aid operations in Africa and Central and South America, said Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Eaton, officer in charge of Swift's "Blue" crew, which brought the ship to Mayport on Wednesday.
That testing helped convince the Navy to proceed with the new Joint High Speed Vessel, the first of which was christened in Mobile last month.
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JHSV Spearhead is built by the same company that launched Swift and is the first of an anticipated 23 the Navy plans to buy over the next 30 years.
Swift "got them realizing the potential that hull form brings, and what it brings is speed and mobility," said Jay Korman, an aerospace and defense analyst with The Avascent Group, a business consulting firm in Washington, D.C.
The ships are considered logistics vessels rather than warships, Korman said. They are constructed without the water-tight compartments and weaponry common to combat vessels, which contributes to their speed. They can operate in combat zones but would be guarded by other ships, he said.
Strength, flexibility
The strength "is their flexibility," Korman said. "They can transport Marines but ... also ambulances and aid packages to devastated areas."
It's what the Swift did on the deployment just completed. It traversed more than 15,000 miles of ocean and moved nearly 2,000 tons of cargo.
Lt. j.g. Adam Cole said the ship also served as a floating university of sorts at ports up and down the West and Central African coasts. A double-wide trailer was set up inside its 28,740-square-foot cargo hold so military officials from different nations could take U.S.-led courses on topics like maritime security and law and medical care.
Swift and the similar ships now following it are not alone in being able to conduct those missions, Eaton said, but they can do so the fastest, with a top speed exceeding 52 mph.
Plus the Swift can carry lots of stuff.
"I say she's like a sports car," Eaton said. "She's the Ferrari of the fleet."
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View Profile Sealord
Sealord Thursday, October 6, 2011 @ 8:37 am "2,000 tons of cargo" Really?! That's only fifty semis worth of freight, in six months. What a deal.