HSV-2 Swift

HSV-2 "Swift" is a non-commissioned, hybrid catamaran leased by the United States Navy as a mine countermeasures and sea basing test platform, homeported at Naval Station Ingleside, Texas. The HSV stands for "High Speed Vessel."

The ship was constructed by the Australian shipbuilder Incat in Hobart, Tasmania and is leased to the U.S. Navy through Bollinger/Incat of Lockport, Louisiana. It is the second catamaran the Navy has leased to test new technologies and concepts associated with the Chief of Naval Operations's "Seapower 21" plan. The contract value for the first year is $21.7 million. The current lease can go out to four years 11 months if all options are exercised.

It is a wave-piercing, aluminum-hulled, commercial catamaran with military enhancements, such as a helicopter flight deck, strengthened vehicle deck, small boat and unmanned vehicle launch and recovery capability, and an enhanced communications suite. It features a new, modular design, which will allow the ship to be refitted to support any mission without requiring long shipyard periods. Its control system, "Combatss", was first used aboard the "Sea Shadow" experimental ship, and allowed the Navy to remotely control a ship more than 3,000 miles (5,600 km) from shore. Users interface with Combatss using a Mozilla browser.

In the autumn of 2003, while operating with the Fifth Fleet, "Swift" completed the fastest-ever transit of the northern Great Barrier Reef from Cairns to Booby Island, Australia, averaging slightly over 39 knots (72 km/h). During flight deck certifications, "Swift"'s crew conducted aircraft recovery while making 43 knots (80 km/h) during one recovery and had 66 knots (122 km/h) apparent winds during another recovery.

In early 2004 "Swift" returned from the West African Training Cruise-04, an exercise designed to enhance security cooperation between the United States and participating West African nations.

The first ship of this class to be used by the Navy, HSV-X1 "Joint Venture", proved its military mettle during Operation Iraqi Freedom as a forward staging platform for Marine Fleet Anti-Terrorism and SEAL (SEa, Air, Land) teams in the shallow waters of Umm Qasr, Iraq. The Navy hopes to build upon lessons learned from "Swift" and its predecessor, and eventually use the information to create a new class of Littoral combat ships.

While from the front the vessels appear to look like a trimaran, the centre hull does not rest in the water and is not used for buoyancy. It is used to lower the t-foil into the water, improving the ride.

"Swift" is the fourth Incat-built high-speed wave piercing catamaran to enter military service, following behind HMAS "Jervis Bay", U.S. Army Vessel (USAV) Theater Support Vessel (TSV) 1X "Spearhead" and "Joint Venture".

"Swift" recently was tapped to provide logistical assistance during the Tsunami Relief Effort in North Sumatra. "Swift" proved its capabilities and flexibility in numerous ways, giving the U.S. Navy a new view. The "Swift" Gold Crew, based at Little Creek Amphibious Base, Little Creek, Virginia, prepared for the new and sudden change of orders in less than one week's time. The two crews performed the fastest crew swap ever in Pearl Harbor, with Gold crew relieving Blue crew in less than eight hours. Once on station, "Swift" embarked her first ever helicopter detachment, providing a base of operations for the two helicopters and their crew for 30 consecutive days at sea. "Swift" Gold Crew also conducted many firsts for the unique vessel, including 30 straight days at sea, supporting a helicopter detachment and its support crew with high tempo flight operations as well as conducting two underway replenishments. Upon detaching from the relief effort, Gold crew then took "Swift" through her first transit of the Suez Canal. The Gold Crew was also responsible for many other firsts for the "Swift", including the first Atlantic crossing, first transit through the Panama Canal, and first Pacific crossing. The "Swift" was also the first U.S. Naval ship to be certified for 100% electronic navigation, removing the centuries old requirement for ships to carry a full complement of navigation charts. "Swift" is used to test experimental equipment, with the crews reporting back on the effectiveness of the new equipment.

During the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, HSV-2 "Swift" was used to transport Humanitarian Assistance Materials from Cyprus to Beirut.

Since departing Naval Station Mayport, Florida on April 25, "Swift" serving as a Global Fleet Station (GFS) hosted more than 1,000 host nation military and civilian personnel during twelve visits to seven countries such as Belize, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Panama. In these countries, personnel on board "Swift" conducted 39,890 hours of subject matter expert exchanges in such areas as leadership, small boat operations, port security and small unit tactics.

The six-month US Navy sponsored GFS deployment tested the Navy’s GFS concept, a maritime security cooperation initiative aimed at strengthening global partnerships through training and cooperation activities. The "Swift" transported US military training teams to conduct maritime training with regional civil and maritime services.

During the last half of the deployment, more than convert|20000|lb|abbr=on. of medical and food supplies were donated through Project Handclasp. The "Swift" hosted numerous dignitaries, including the Prime Minister of Jamaica and U.S. Ambassadors to Panama, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras and Jamaica.

The GFS completed its pilot mission, Sunday, Sept. 30, when the "Swift" returned to Naval Station Mayport, FL.

Yokosuka, Japan

Related developments

*HMAS "Jervis Bay" (AKR-45) (Royal Australian Navy)
*HSV-1 "Joint Venture" (US Navy)

References

This article was based on numerous Navy public domain press releases.

External links

* [http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=4200&tid=1400&ct=4 Navy Fact File: High-Speed Vessel]