Sea Shadow (IX-529)
{{Short description|American experimental stealth ship}}
{{About|the American experimental stealth ship|the 2011 Emirati film|Sea Shadow (film)}}
{{Expand German|Sea Shadow|date=July 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
| {{Infobox ship begin
| infobox caption = Sea Shadow (IX-529) }} {{Infobox ship image | Ship image = File:US Navy Sea Shadow stealth craft.jpg | Ship caption = Sea Shadow sailing through Californian waters near San Francisco in March 1999 }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United States | Ship flag= {{USN flag|2006}} |Ship name= Sea Shadow |Ship namesake= |Ship awarded=22 October 1982 |Ship builder=Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company |Ship laid down= |Ship completed=1984 |Ship acquired=1 March 1985 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service=September 2006 |Ship struck=September 2006 |Ship fate=Scrapped in 2012 |Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = Stealth ship | Ship displacement = {{convert|563|LT|t|0|lk=in|abbr=on}} | Ship length = {{convert|164|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship beam = {{convert|68|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship draft = {{convert|15|ft|m|abbr=on}} | Ship depth = | Ship hold depth = | Ship propulsion = Diesel–electric | Ship speed = {{convert|14.2|kn|lk=in}} | Ship range = | Ship complement = 4 | Ship armament = None | Ship armor = | Ship notes = }} |
Sea Shadow (IX-529) was an experimental stealth ship built by Lockheed for the United States Navy to determine how a low radar profile might be achieved and to test high-stability hull configurations that have been used in oceanographic ships.
Development
Sea Shadow was built in 1984 to examine the application of stealth technology on naval vessels and was used in secret until a public debut in 1993. In addition, the ship was designed to test the use of automation to reduce crew size. The ship was created by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Navy and Lockheed. Sea Shadow was developed and built at Lockheed's Redwood City, California, facility, inside the Hughes Mining Barge (HMB-1), which functioned as a floating dry dock during construction and testing.{{cite news|title=The Navy has a Top-Secret Vessel it wants to put on display; Sea Shadow and its Satellite-Proof Barge need a home; Plotting in Providence|last=Newman|first=Barry|date=February 24, 2009|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|page=1}}
History
Sea Shadow had a SWATH (small-waterplane-area twin hull) design. Below the water were submerged twin hulls, each with a propeller, aft stabilizer, and inboard hydrofoil. The portion of the ship above water was connected to the hulls via the two angled struts. The SWATH design helped the ship remain stable in rough water up to sea state 6 (wave height of 18 feet (5.5 m) or "very rough" sea). The shape of the superstructure was sometimes compared to the casemate of the ironclad ram {{ship|CSS|Virginia||6}} of the American Civil War.
Sea Shadow had 12 bunks, one small microwave oven, a refrigerator and table. It was not intended to be mission-capable and was never commissioned, although it was listed in the Naval Vessel Register.
Sea Shadow was revealed to the public in 1993 and was housed at the San Diego Naval Station until September 2006, when it was relocated with the Hughes Mining Barge to the Suisun Bay Reserve Fleet in Benicia, California. Until 2006, Sea Shadow and the HMB-1 were maintained and operated by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Navy. The vessels were available for donation to a maritime museum.
The USNS Impeccable and USNS Victorious ocean surveillance ships have inherited the stabilizer and canard method to help perform their stability-sensitive intelligence collection missions.
In 2006, the U.S. Navy tried to sell Sea Shadow to the highest bidder;{{cite news |date=2009-02-24 |title=Top-Secret Navy Vessel Needs a Home |url=http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,499089,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090224212029/http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,499089,00.html |archive-date=2009-02-24 |work=The Wall Street Journal |via=Fox News}} after the initial offering met with a lack of interest, it was listed for dismantling sale on gsaauctions.gov.{{Cite web |title=BID DEPOSIT-SEA SHADOW/HMB-1 |url=http://gsaauctions.gov/gsaauctions/aucdsclnk?sl=31QSCI12129001# |publisher=General Services Administration}} The U.S. government mandated that the buyer not sail the ship and be required to scrap it. The ship was finally sold in 2012.Time magazine, 11 May 2012, p. 5{{cite news| url=http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/06/4614558/innovative-stealth-ship-sold-to.html | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710083653/http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/06/4614558/innovative-stealth-ship-sold-to.html|archive-date=2012-07-10| work=The Sacramento Bee | title=Innovative stealth ship sold to Alameda firm for scrap | date=2012-07-06}} Sea Shadow was dismantled in 2012 by Bay Ship & Yacht Company of Alameda, California.{{Cite web|title = Now tons of scrap, Sunnyvale Lockheed facility's Sea Shadow leaves a stealthy, high-tech legacy|url = http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_22320385/now-tons-scrap-sunnyvale-lockheed-facilitys-sea-shadow|accessdate = 2015-07-31|date = 1 July 2013|last = Kurhi|first = Eric}}
In popular culture
In the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, media tycoon Elliot Carver (Sir Jonathan Pryce) operated a stealth ship that resembled Sea Shadow{{'s}} appearance. Christened as Sea Dolphin II in the film, the secret and stealthy floating lair was used as a plot device to attempt to initiate World War III.{{Cite web |last=Suciu |first=Peter |date=28 August 2021 |title=Meet the Sea Shadow: The U.S. Navy's Stealth Ship Straight Out of a Bond Film |url=https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/meet-sea-shadow-us-navys-stealth-ship-straight-out-bond-film-192723 |website=The National Interest}}
The 1994 video game Urban Strike features Sea Shadow as an enemy unit.{{Cite web |date=20 October 2014 |title=Screenshot of Urban Strike (SNES, 1994) - MobyGames |url=https://www.mobygames.com/game/5780/urban-strike/screenshots/snes/734367/ |website=MobyGames}} Its 1997 sequel, Nuclear Strike features the craft as home base. The craft also appears thrice in the single-player campaign of Act of War: High Treason (a 2006 real-time strategy game by Eugen Systems{{Cite web |title=Act of War: High Treason (2006) |url=https://www.mobygames.com/game/22793/act-of-war-high-treason/ |access-date=2025-01-18 |website=MobyGames |language=en}}) as an enemy unit. This fictional version is a stealthy aircraft carrier, capable of housing one X-32 JSF VTOL. The craft is not playable outside the single-player campaign.
See also
- Skjold-class corvette, stealth missile coastal corvette in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy
- Visby-class corvette, a stealth ship currently in service with the Swedish Navy
- {{sclass|Zumwalt|destroyer}}
- Sea Hunter
- {{ship|Juliet Marine Systems|Ghost}}
References
{{reflist|30em}}
{{Naval Vessel Register|{{Naval Vessel Register service craft URL|id=IX529}}}}
External links
{{Commons category|Sea Shadow (IX-529)}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20041106100425/http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=11028 Navy news article]
- [http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ship/sea_shadow.htm Sea Shadow]
- [https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB123543023154353525?mod=djemWMP "The Navy Has a Top-Secret Vessel It Wants to Put on Display"] by Barry Newman - The Wall Street Journal - February 24, 2009
- [http://maritime.org/seashadow Virtual Tour of Sea Shadow and HMB-1]{{dead link|date=May 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
Category:Small waterplane area twin hull vessels
Category:High speed vessels of the United States Navy
Category:Ships built by Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company