HSV-2 Swift
_Swift_is_participating_in_the_West_African_Training_Cruise.jpg) |
|
| History | |
|---|---|
 United States
|
|
| Name: | HSV-2 Swift |
| Ordered: | October 2002 |
| Builder: | Incat, Tasmania, Australia |
| Yard number: | 061 |
| Acquired: | 15 August 2003 |
| Out of service: | 2013 |
| Refit: | October 2008 |
| Status: | Left US MSC contracted service in 2013 |
| Notes: | Port of registry was changed to Majuro, upon purchase of Swift by Sealift Inc. Concurrent with that her flag was changed to that of the Republic of the Marshall Islands. After being leased by the UAE. |
 United Arab Emirates
|
|
| Identification: |
|
| Status: | Attacked 1 October 2016; remained afloat and salvaged as of 4 October 2016. Declared unrepairable and decommissioned. |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: |
|
| Length: | 321.5 ft (98.0 m) |
| Beam: | 88.6 ft (27.0 m) |
| Draft: | 11.15 ft (3.40 m) |
| Propulsion: | Caterpillar 3618 marine diesel engines |
| Speed: |
|
| Range: | 3,500 nmi (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) |
| Capacity: |
|
| Complement: | 17 Contract Mariners; berthing for 107 with additional temporary berthing for 87 when seating is converted |
| Crew: | 35 |
| Armament: | 4 × .50 caliber M2 Browning machine gun mounts |
HSV-2 Swift is a hybrid catamaran. She was privately owned and operated by Sealift Inc., and was originally built under the JHSV program as a proof of concept. As part of this program, she was directly leased for evaluation from her builders by the United States Navy Military Sealift Command from 2003 to 2013, primarily as a mine countermeasures and sea basing test platform. Later during her official naval career she was mostly used for fleet support and humanitarian partnership missions.
As of 2015, the ship was reported to have been leased by the United Arab Emirates' National Marine Dredging Company. On 1 October 2016, the ship was attacked and seriously damaged off Yemen. Houthi rebels claimed the ship sank. According to unnamed US Department of Defense officials, the damaged ship was being towed to Eritrea.
The ship is a wave-piercing, aluminum-hulled, commercial catamaran with military enhancements, such as a helicopter flight deck, vehicle deck, small boat and unmanned vehicle launch and recovery capability, and a communications suite. She features a new, modular design, which will allow her to be refitted to support missions without requiring long shipyard periods. While from the front the vessel looks like a trimaran, the center hull does not rest in the water and is not used for buoyancy. As a logistics vessel, the ship does not have water-tight compartments or weapons systems. Propulsion is provided by directional water jets, so the ship does not have propellers or a rudder for steering, and can maneuver in 3.7 m (12 ft) of water.
The HSV stands for "High Speed Vessel", and her home port while chartered as a MSC vessel was Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek in Norfolk, Virginia. The vessel had two CONMAR crews that typically rotated every three months to keep the ship deployed eleven months per year. The minimum crew size is 35; during her time with the MSC 18 were military with the balance civilian, provided through American Maritime Officers and Seafarers International Union of the United States Merchant Marine. On rare occasion that she was in a United States port, it was usually Naval Station Mayport, Florida, supporting the Fourth Fleet or Charleston, South Carolina, for major maintenance. Rota, Spain, was considered by the crew to be the "Mediterranean home away from home.
...
Wikipedia