High-Speed Vessel - HSV

Description: The high-speed catamaran HSV 2 Swift was delivered to the U.S. Navy on August 15, 2003, and is currently serving operationally as an interim Mine Warfare Command and Support Ship (MCS) and Navy/Marine Corps experimentation vessel. Swift will be used to develop concepts, capabilities and reconfigurable mission modules for multiple mission areas in support of Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program development.

Background: The Navy has taken advantage of the lessons learned from Joint Venture (HSV-X1) and the Army’s high-speed theater support vessel Spearhead (TSV-1X). The Bollinger-Incat team incorporated more than 75 enhancements in Swift during construction, and demonstrated unusual flexibility and a strong desire to meet the Navy’s needs. It took only ten months from contract award to ship delivery — record time for putting to sea a truly transformational ship.

Because Swift was built to meet commercial standards and intended for modular payloads, the Navy could use commercial high-speed vessel training courses for the crew, thus enabling her to proceed directly from new construction to deployment. She departed on her maiden deployment only 11 days after delivery.

Swift is a completely automated “sea frame” ship that can perform many missions. Building on lessons learned during the testing of Joint Venture and that ship’s wartime deployment in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Swift brings new capabilities and unparalleled opportunities for tactical innovation to the Navy-Marine Corps team of the 21st century.

General Characteristics, Swift (HSV 2)

Ship Type: Aluminum-hulled, wave-piercing catamaran
Length: 321½ feet (98 meters)
Beam: 88.6 feet (27 meters)
Draft: 11.15 feet (3.4 meters)
Payload Capacity: Approximately 605 tons (615 metric tons)
Cargo Deck: Approximately 28,740 sq. ft. (2,670 square meters)
Propulsion: Caterpillar 3618 marine Diesel engines
Maximum Speed: 53+ miles per hour (85+ kilometers per hour/45+ knots)
Operating Speed: 34+ miles per hours (55+ kilometers per hour/30+ knots)
Range: 4,000+ miles (6,500 kilometers/3,500+ nautical miles)
Self-Defense Capability: MK 96 w 25mm/40mm Stabilized Gun; MK 45 Snake Eyes with MK 19 Grenade Machine Gun
Normal Crew Size: Approximately 42
Maximum Crew Size: Berthing for 107 with additional temporary berthing for 87 when seating
is converted
Crew Homeports: Naval Station Ingleside, Tex., and Naval Amphibious Base Little Creek, Va.
Contractor: Bollinger/Incat USA, LLC, Lockport, La.
Contract Value: $21.7 million (First year value) Current lease can go out to four years 11 months if all options exercised.