Free Republic

THE commander of the US Pacific fleet will drop into Tasmanian shipbuilding yard Incat over the weekend to cast an acquisitive eye over its $78 million catamarans. Admiral Walter F. Doran will visit the struggling shipbuilding yard in Hobart to see how it makes the vessels that have excited him and other US armed force leaders during sea trials. Admiral Doran took a high-speed ride on the Incat-built military HSV (high-speed vessel) Joint Venture during operations off the Californian port of San Diego last year. "I'm very interested," Admiral Doran said yesterday. "You're going at 35, 36, 37 knots ......

Speaking of this latest High Speed Vessel to hoist the Stars and Stripes, Rear Admiral Paul Ryan, Commander Mine Warfare Command, US Navy said “the name Swift is most appropriate, because of its high speed, it reached 47 knots on sea trials.”

The Army will deploy the leased Joint Venture (HSV-X1) high-speed catamaran to the Persian Gulf for operations in the war on terrorism, a departure from the vessel's previous experimental activities, sources said last week. Following the Navy's scheduled handover of the vessel to the Army March 20 in southern Spain, the ground service has been working to modify the ship and train Army sailors for deployment to the Persian Gulf, where it will participate in activities related to the war on terrorism, sources said. Though sources declined to provide the ship's date of deployment, they said the move from Spain...