The Nimitz Class: An Unstoppable Nuclear Powered Aircraft Carrier | Power: Aircraft Carrier | Spark

for centuries the fight for command of the seas has determined the rise and fall of empires and nations to rule the waves navies around the world have been locked in a battle to develop the most powerful and technologically superior vessels in this episode we chart a course from the once revolutionary steam-powered dreadnought battleships to the nuclear-powered fortresses that are the nimitz-class aircraft carriers and from the ever-evolving arms race below the surface to the new wave of amphibious craft and autonomous vessels above this is the story of sea power on the high seas this is the height of technology a guided missile destroyer the uss zumwalt is the most advanced ship from the world's most advanced navy fast stealthy and heavily armed this vessel has been designed to combat the military threats of today and those of the future with its futuristic appearance the zumwalt may stand out on the water but its trapezoidal shape actually serves to hide it it's designed the way it is to reduce its radar cross section so if there's someone looking for it if they can't see it with their eyes then what they'll see on the radar is a much smaller return they'll think it's something closer to a fishing vessel a big part of that comes from the ship's unusual hull which narrows from the water line to the upper deck known as a tumble home hull this design not only serves in stealth it changes the way the ship moves through the water slicing through waves rather than riding over them from a stealth perspective you probably want a lot of sort of fairly straight angle panels that are not pointing straight back at any particular area highly automated the ship can run with as few as 130 crew members less than half needed on similar sized warships the most powerful destroyer in the history of the us navy the zumwalt is also the first naval surface combatant to run on all electric propulsion driving its electric generators are a set of two of the most powerful marine gas turbines in the world the rolls-royce mt-30 producing 78 megawatts of energy enough to power 10 000 homes the zumwalt has more than it needs to drive its propellers and power the ship's service and combat systems the excess energy is anticipated to power weapons and sensor systems upgrades ensuring the ship remains at the cutting edge well into the future [Music] for all its advances the zumwalt is not without its critics the incorporation of a radical design with a host of experimental technologies has sparked concern as to whether the ship of the future can live up to expectations today with only one completed and in service the zumwalt has yet to be tested in battle and only time will tell if it charts a course for the future of the navy since mankind could take to the sea we have sought to control it and naval warfare can trace its origins to ancient greece the romans and the seafaring raids of the vikings from ancient times it was sail power that ruled the waves but in the late 18th century a new technology arose bringing an end to the age of sail the steam engine first appearing on boats in the 1770s steam engines used external combustion to harness the heat energy of steam converting it to mechanical motion through a paddle wheel or propeller redefining what ships were capable of the steam age gave rise to a new generation of vessel no longer dependent on the vagaries of the wind ships became faster and more reliable as ships grew in scale and power the first armored vessels the ironclads emerged in the mid-19th century slow and cumbersome it would take another boost in power before armored warships would rule the waves in 1884 british engineer charles parsons invented what he believed would unleash the full power of the steam engine the steam turbine seeing the potential for maritime industries he set about building an experimental ship that would demonstrate this increased power to the world the first steam turbine-powered ship the turbinia though not equipped to fight would shape the future of warships [Music] with parsons turbine generating 1000 horsepower he calculated a top speed in the region of 30 knots a record-breaking feat for the day the problem was that in testing the turbinia failed to perform unable to reach even 20 knots what followed was a two-year period of intensive research that led to a breakthrough in the understanding of cavitation because water at a lower pressure boils at a lower temperature the low pressure zone created by a spinning propeller can effectively boil sea water [Music] the bubbles formed by cavitation are not filled with air but with steam as the steam bubbles implode the resulting shock waves wreak havoc on any nearby moving parts rapidly enhancing wear and dramatically decreasing performance parsons research led him to understand that by increasing the blade size of the turbinia's propellers he could delay the inception of cavitation sporting this enhanced propeller system the turbinia took to the water again in 1897 reaching a top speed of knots it astonished onlookers and easily became the fastest ship of its day the unprecedented power unleashed by the steam turbine engine was quickly seized upon by naval forces around the world helping usher in a new era in battleship design the dreadnought era from the early 20th century several navies around the world were toying with the concept of a battleship that would carry a uniform armament of heavy guns launched in 1906 it was the hms dreadnought that proved the revolutionary power of the concept the fastest battleship at the time of her launch the hms dreadnought was the first lead ship to be powered by steam turbines and sparked an arms race for bigger and better battleships that reverberated around the world [Music] fast and powerful dreadnought battleships were characterized by the exclusive use of turbine propulsion for speed and an array of large caliber guns for fighting at the time naval guns were unguided and gunners relied on the splashes of missed shots to adjust their aim [Music] the development of rapid reloading 12-inch naval guns meant that gunners could zero in on enemy targets more quickly and with the weapon that actually mattered equipped exclusively with these weapons dreadnought battleships became the most lethal force on the water and the dominant naval power throughout the first world war [Music] technical developments continued to advance rapidly and by the dawn of the second world war the dreadnought class was superseded by a new style of multi-role battleship the iowa class represents the culmination of the battleship era and the ultimate decline of such ships in the ever-evolving world of naval warfare [Music] the first of the four iowa class ships entered service in the u.s navy in 1943 representing the most powerful class of battleship ever built with her compliment of about 2 000 men the giant fighting ship goes through the battle maneuvers in readiness for that moment when her full weight will make itself felt in battle itself speed once a guiding principle in the dreadnought era had been sacrificed in preceding classes of u.s battleship in favor of heavier armor but with the longer hulled iowa class speed was back at the forefront and courtesy of four cross-compound steam turbine engines they were the fastest battleships in the world capable of a top speed of 32 and a half knots with battleships having long since moved away from the dreadnought all big gun configuration the iowa's carried a range of firepower from its array of small 20 millimeter anti-aircraft cannons to its nine huge anti-ship and shore bombardment guns lobbing 16-inch shells for an incredible 32 kilometers at maximum range the devastating projectiles could spend nearly a minute and a half in flight for all their firepower and speed in the second world war decisive naval battles were becoming a thing of the past and the iowas were relegated to an artillery support role in the island hopping campaigns of the pacific theater all the while debate continued as to the relevance of battleships in a time when superior power was to be found above the ocean and below it and it was below where the greatest revolution in naval warfare took place with the widest range of types and capabilities of just about any aquatic vessel submarines changed the dynamics of naval power forever [Music] experimentation with submersible craft dates back to the 16th century but the myriad of engineering challenges posed by the underwater environment from stability and navigation to life support and pressurization meant that it was hundreds of years before viable designs were proven and for this much of the credit goes to one man considered the father of the modern submarine john holland was an irish-born engineer who in the late 19th century built the vessel that proved the possibilities of underwater craft john holland was an irish american who developed basically the modern concept of the submarine by understanding the buoyancy and the weight relationship and understanding how to make the submarine dive and return again safely to the surface in a consistent manner combining an internal combustion engine for travel on the surface with an electric motor for propulsion beneath holland's prototype was the first vessel to run for any considerable distance while submerged it was that enabling technology of the propulsion that enabled both flight and also it enabled submarines the u.s navy purchased holland's model in 1900 and quickly ordered six more inaugurating the first submarine fleet in the world today what we know as the submarine owes much to the military and the military was drawn to submarines for one reason their ability to be weaponized named after the torpedo fish that hunts by delivering a stunning shock to its prey the torpedo remains the most lethal anti-ship and anti-submarine weapon ever invented [Music] while work on underwater missiles had taken place previously it was english engineer robert whitehead that is credited with creating the first self-propelled torpedo in the mid-19th century fired from a tube above or below the water whitehead's torpedo used a three-cylinder compressed air engine to travel towards its target with its worn nose designed to detonate a charge of explosive gun cotton on impact whitehead's chief innovation was the addition of a hydrostatic valve and pendulum balance connected to the rudder allowing the weapon to maintain a constant depth the latter edition of a gyroscope mechanism allowed the torpedo to correct its course against underwater currents greatly enhancing its accuracy devastating to ships and difficult to defend against the torpedo was the ultimate naval weapon and able to close into an effective range while undetected beneath the surface submarines were the ultimate craft to deploy it thus it was the torpedo that transformed the submarine from experimental auditing fearsome weapon of war and throughout the 20th century there were perhaps no submarines more fearsome than the u-boat german for undersea boat these craft like all submarines of the era were more submersible ships than true submarines in the u-boats in the first world war and the second world war were just continuations of the same technology and the same design and the same thoughts that holland had sinking beneath the surface to avoid airborne attacks and to conduct stealthy torpedo strikes on enemy craft it was this underwater ability that made the u-boat so deadly throughout both world wars the most significant of the u-boats was the type 7 relatively cheap and quick to build during the second world war the type 7 formed the backbone of the german u-boat fleet with over 700 produced and it was this vessel that rose to prominence in the longest largest and most complex battle in naval history at the beginning of the second world war submarines were being deployed by the germans to sink the merchant ships that were going from america to support the uk and in fact churchill is quoted as saying the most dangerous thing for him during the second world war was the battle of the atlantic the german u-boats led by the class seven patrolled the atlantic in dreaded wolf packs with their small profile and tight living quarters for their small crew the type 7s were all about agility and armament running primarily on the surface under diesel engines the type 7 was capable of rapid crash dives and this favored maneuver saw them disappear beneath the waves in as little as 20 seconds here their combustion engines could not be supplied with sufficient oxygen and they switched to their less efficient electric motors what was sacrificed in efficiency was gained in stealth and listening from the depths with advanced underwater microphones they set their torpedoes to sink dozens of warships and millions of tons worth of merchant cargo [Applause] but the tide eventually turned against the u-boats and the hunter became the hunted the breaking of germany's enigma code along with new allied tactics and weaponry that capitalized on the u-boats limited underwater performance rendered them little more than sitting ducks in the closing stages of the battle of the atlantic these craft came to be referred to as iron coffins developed in the years between the first and second world wars the t-class submarine was the british navy's attempt to command this new aquatic battlefield along with an enhanced hydrodynamic structure the t-class subs carried twin 1 450 horsepower electric motors to provide a greater capacity for underwater performance nonetheless along with other subs of the day the t-class remained faster and more efficient on the surface and here the t-class ran on twin 2 500 horsepower diesel engines with an increased fuel capacity to afford a wider range and longer mission durations but the t-class submarine's real advantage was simple it could fire more torpedoes with four external torpedo tubes and six tubes built into the bow it was the first submarine to ever carry such firepower the design proved a success playing a major role for the royal navy in world war ii the t-class was upgraded during the cold war to target soviet subs remaining in service until the 1970s with submarines revolutionizing naval warfare from below surface vessels needed to adapt to neutralize the threat employed by both sides during the first and second world wars merchant ships carrying concealed weaponry were an early attempt to do just that known as q-ships they were designed to appear as easy targets luring submarines to the surface where they could attack by deck guns rather than firing their limited torpedoes even if struck by torpedo attack q-ships carried a cargo of light wood in order to remain afloat encouraging the sub to expose itself in order to finish off the apparently foundering vessel when the submarine surfaced the q-ship's panels dropped to reveal its own deck guns using the elements of surprise to overwhelm its otherwise superior adversary but the submarine menace would never be neutralized without more sophisticated methods and one naval vessel proved especially adaptable to the role the frigate today um post-war the frigate is is generally used to define a surface ship which has as a specialization hunting submarines warships built for speed and maneuverability frigates were increasingly retrofitted with anti-submarine technologies during world war ii and this capability would be built into new models in the latter half of the 20th century models like the leander class [Music] first commissioned by the british royal navy in 1963 the leander class became one of the most numerous and long-lived frigates in modern history with derivatives of the design being adopted by other navies around the world the first thing the frigate has to do is be very quiet so one of the key things about the frigate is to make sure that the speed at which cavitation occurs is as high as possible so that when it's hunting for a submarine it's not making any cavitations being quiet is one thing but anti-subvessels also need to be good listeners to that end they were equipped with an enhanced detection system in the form of vds variable depth sonar towed behind the ship the leanders vds array emitted sound waves to echolocate objects underwater determining bearing range and depth with their position revealed enemy submarines could be fired upon using an anti-submarine mortar system known as limbo launching depth charges in any direction around the ship limbo used three barrels to drop the explosives in a triangular pattern around the target maximizing the chances of a hit the other thing an anti-submarine frigate will have is a helicopter the helicopter will be designed for anti-submarine purposes and it will be able to fly and put a dipping sonar in the water and listen for submarines due in large part to these enhanced capabilities not a single ship among the 26 leanders was ever sunk by enemy action but the next leap in power would not only revolutionize submarine warfare it would redefine naval forces the world [Music] over the nuclear revolution of the mid 20th century boosted both the power generation and the armament of naval vessels like nothing before thanks to nuclear power submarines became true submersibles capable of remaining beneath the surface indefinitely subs were now limited only by the supplies they could carry and the endurance of their crew giving rise to a new generation of vessel [Music] mrs eisenhower took two hands to the job when she named and launched the american submarine nautilus at groton connecticut the vessel is the world's first atomic powered submarine is said to have caused over 10 million pounds to build launched in 1954 the uss nautilus represented an unparalleled breakthrough for submarines [Music] taking its name from the vessel in the science fiction classic 20 000 leagues under the sea this deep diving giant turned imagination into reality the key thing about the nautilus that was the first submarine to operate under nuclear power and until that had happened nobody really knew whether they could run a nuclear power station in the submarine i mean it's quite crazy thought really to take a nuclear power station and put it into the tiniest confines of the submarine with diesel electric submarines required to spend the majority of their time on the surface in order to charge their batteries for limited dives non-nuclear subs were limited mainly to coastal defense the nautilus was designed to travel much further afield and primarily underwater among the many records for distance and speed that this new breed of submarine set in 1958 the nautilus traveled beneath the arctic ice to become the first watercraft ever to reach the north pole core to the incredible range and ability of the nautilus was its s2w pressurized water reactor as the atoms of nuclear material split they generate heat a pressurized water reactor uses a primary coolant system to circulate water through the reactor and absorb this heat pressurized so as not to boil the now heated water in the system passes through a steam generator where it transfers its heat to the secondary unpressurized coolant system with the water in the secondary loop vaporizing steam is formed which is directed to spin the turbine generator and produce the vessel's electricity the small nuclear part which is shielded of course from the people um is used to heat water into steam the steam is then used to drive a steam turbine the steam turbine then drives the shaft so basically that's how the process works silent consuming no air and producing no emissions nuclear power was perfectly suited to submarines and the pressurized water reactor became the basis for nearly all the us navy's nuclear-powered subs as well as its surface combat ships the first of its kind in operation the nautilus revealed a number of design and construction shortcomings nowadays submarine hull shape design is quite different it's not designed for running on the surface with the occasional trip underwater it's designed under water and on the surface it looks really odd because it's just making all their own waves its record setting feats notwithstanding this vessel was equally influential in identifying areas that future subs needed to improve upon the improvements in submarine technology led to a class of sub designed to combat an extremely challenging adversary other submarines hunter killer submarines like the us navy's fleet of 13 virginia-class vessels are designed specifically to attack and sink other craft above the surface or below and it's below in conflict with other subs where technical superiority is everything the first thing is detection submarines sail blind dependent on sonar and radar to navigate their way and identify targets the virginia class is equipped with an array of sensors to enhance its detection abilities including thermal images laser rangefinders and low-light high-resolution cameras needing to remain ahead of the competition upgrades are constantly installed nowadays submarines have tiles around the outside of the submarine to stop noise going out of the submarine known as anechoic coating these rubber tiles not only reduce the sound emitted from the submarine they also absorb sonar pulses decreasing the virginia's return signal to any vessels listening in after targeting an enemy and closing in undetected the virginia-class submarine can launch its attack fitted with four torpedo tubes and 12 missile tubes for its tomahawk cruise missiles once the command is given the game is over for any vessel this hunter killer has in its sights there would be very few places on this planet that could not be attacked by a nuclear submarine and just even a nuclear conventional submarine not a nuclear ballistic submarine and with the tomahawk missiles cruise missiles and so on they can fire to just about anywhere on the planet and thanks to the 40 000 horsepower generated from its nuclear power plant the virginia and its 134 crew can clear the area quickly and quietly with a top speed of 25 knots known disarmingly as boomers these vessels are the culmination of the underwater arms race with the cold war driving the proliferation of nuclear weapons nuclear-powered submarines equipped to carry and launch ballistic nuclear missiles became the most powerful vessels in the world it was russia in the 1950s that claimed the dubious honor of becoming the first nation to equip a sub with nuclear warheads the u.s was quick to follow suit and these two superpowers have continued to dominate the deployment of nuclear ballistic submarines and the first of the ballistic missile submarines was the george washington class now george washington was the first submarine to fire a ballistic missile from underwater number two goes up described by official observers as a little better than the first and the first was excellent featuring similar designs to hunter killer subs boomers were built larger to accommodate their nuclear missile payload beginning service in 1981 the six subs of the russian typhoon class remain the largest submarines ever built they can comfortably accommodate their 160 member crews for submerged missions lasting months at a time the typhoon was so big and strong and it was designed to go under the ice that the one of the concepts of the typhoon was that it would survive the first strike the whole object of the deterrence in the cold war is nobody would strike because there's no such thing as a second strike launched in the same year the us navy's ohio class may have been smaller but it came equipped with an overkill of 24 nuclear ballistic missiles the largest armament ever carried by a submarine fired from the launch tube by gas pressure boomers can project their missiles with sufficient velocity to reach the surface from 50 meters below from there rocket motors engage to carry the missiles along with their multiple warheads with pinpoint accuracy for thousands of kilometers with the nuclear-powered submarines range limited only by food supplies these vessels can circumvent the oceans virtually without end and virtually unnoticed posing an insurmountable threat to both sides both the british and the americans are actually actively right at the moment developing the next boomer class it's still in the early design stage and it would be highly classified to this day boomers maintain an uneasy stylemate of mutually assured destruction just as the nuclear revolution changed what naval vessels were capable of the rapid evolution of air power changed what naval vessels were for with early 20th century fighter aircraft boasting greater range and precision than naval guns a new kind of ship was needed to serve in a new kind of war while the idea of a ship that could launch and recover aircraft is almost as old as flying itself this is the vessel that first demonstrated the offensive power of aircraft carriers to the world hms illustrious entering service in the british royal navy in the first year of the second world war hms illustrious carried a compliment of approximately 1300 men along with 36 aircraft measuring 225 metres in length she was not a big ship by modern aircraft carrier standards and this was by design originally it had capacity for just uh 14 aircraft but had the cdart long-range surface-to-air missile early in its career the sea dart was removed to provide extra capacity and then the ship could take about 22 aircraft in order that illustrious protect its valuable payload of planes and aviation fuel against enemy attack the below deck hangar was heavily armored placing a great deal of weight high in the ship concerns over stability meant the hangar was limited to just a single level essentially halving the ship's carrying capacity to ensure its survivability capable of traveling at 30 knots under full load illustrious was powered by three parsons steam turbines [Music] three drum boilers use a triangular layout to achieve a high rate of evaporation with two water drums below and a furnace in the center the steam drum collects the saturated steam on top superheaters within the tube bank enhance efficiency by vaporizing the remaining water droplets in the wet steam supplying dry high pressure steam to the ship's systems using heat to generate steam boilers preceded nuclear reactors as naval power plants and remain in common usage on ships today and this is the height of naval power today the us navy's nimitz class super carriers the nimitz-class carrier is an american class of nuclear aircraft carriers at the end of world war ii aircraft carriers grew in size enormously driven by two things one of them was the jet aircraft the other was the development of the atomic bomb in service since 1975 each of the 10 nimitz class carriers stands 20 stories above the water stretching over 330 meters across it capable of carrying 130 aircraft and crewed by a contingent of thousand personnel each vessel is simultaneously a ship an air force base and a small city at the time of construction the nimitz class were the biggest warships ever built having served in nearly every crisis and conflict the united states has been involved in over the last 40-plus years these trustee ships are projected to provide the bulk of the navy's carrier force for at least another 20 years a big part of the nimitz class's longevity is its nuclear power plant with two westinghouse 4 aw pressurized water reactors each ship generates megawatts of electricity enough to power 47 500 homes capable of operating for 20 years without refueling these supercarriers use their reactors to drive four propeller shafts achieving an official top speed of over 30 knots the advantage of nuclear power in these ships it gives them in fact the ability to steam at high speed virtually limitlessly but they have another advantage as well and that is that if you have a nuclear power plant you have a great deal more room in the ship for fuel for aircraft and munitions for aircraft certainly people say that the most dangerous place on the planet is on the flight deck on an aircraft carrier because they're taking off and landing and you're standing right next to them if you've ever gone out onto an airport and stood with aircraft are you kept well away but there they have to be right next to them maneuvering aircraft the aircraft they're turning and then they're letting it go and meanwhile another aircraft is landing and if they step in the wrong place they're going to get sucked up into the engines and on or run over by an airplane while the us government has neither confirmed nor denied the presence of nuclear weapons on its aircraft carriers the nimitz class are known to be equipped with missile defense cannons as well as anti-aircraft and anti-ship missile launchers along with the kevlar armor coating vital spaces the supercarrier's armament is the last line of defense and the real protection is provided by the strike force it travels with costing around four and a half billion dollars each to construct in conflict this makes them a prized target for the enemy as such they never sail alone [Music] made up of at least one submarine for protection from below and several varying warships and supply vessels on the surface the already intimidating supercarriers are escorted by an equally intimidating strike force to ensure the objectives of their deployment are met [Music] evolving from aircraft carriers a new kind of naval transport vessel emerged one that could extend the navy's reach from the sea onto the land the amphibious assault ship [Music] the first amphibious assault ships from the 1950s were converted from small aircraft carriers and even modern purpose-built vessels bear a strong resemblance in their design while amphibious assault ships have maintained the ability to transport fighter aircraft their landing decks are typically used to carry attack and utility helicopters in order to land troops and supplies into hostile territory the wasp class landing helicopter dock they're the largest amphibious ship in the world and they have a combination of a flight deck large helicopter hangar a large vehicle deck for all the associated equipment that will be landed a large troop capacity and a well deck that can take up to three large landing craft located at the water line in the stern of the ship the hangar-like world deck is essentially a floodable garage housing everything from small boats to huge hovercrafts dropping its bow door the world deck lowers to allow water to flow in enabling landing craft to launch from and dock within the ship itself it's really designed for a large amphibious operation it has quite elaborate command control facilities on board the ship and also the air-cushioned landing craft the elk allow the troops to go to the beach at quite high speeds so up to about 40 knots or 70 kilometers an hour and that reduces the risks that the troops and stalls have during that vulnerable period the amphibious assault craft allows the transport of troops supplies even tanks from the sea to the shore without the help of a safe harbor coming in an array of shapes and sizes the versatile amphibious assault ship has proven its place in navies around the world and in military engineering the quest for improvement is relentless this experimental craft is part of that quest [Music] known as a surface effect ship or ses for short it combines elements of a hovercraft with a catamaran to achieve enhanced performance this model the ses 100b was built for the us navy in the 1970s to test the feasibility of the surface effect concept for combat situations with buoyant twin hulls like a catamaran the vessel has excellent stability by employing a hovercraft air cushion the ses-100b is able to rise up leaving just a small portion of its hull submerged operating almost completely above the water the ses has achieved speeds in excess of 96 knots unlike fan driven hovercraft the 100b runs on twin semi-submerged propellers and the key to its remarkable pace is in the ability of these propellers to achieve supercavitation [Music] with cavitation creating steam bubbles in water supercavitation takes advantage of the phenomenon by creating bubbles large enough to encompass an object in this case the propellers with the propellers traveling through pockets of air rather than water skin friction drag is greatly reduced translating to much higher speeds but with its rigid hulls the ses-100b lacked the land-going capabilities of its amphibious counterpart and whilst having great influence on civilian vessels never made it into military service bridging the gap from ship to shore is the ultimate in amphibious vehicles gliding over water and land alike landing craft air cushions known in civilian terms as hovercraft are capable of penetrating over 80 percent of the world's coastlines all while carrying up to 180 troops or even a tank so the alcac is one of the largest of the landing craft that are currently in use and to give you an idea of its size it's about 190 tons in weight and is able to carry about 60 tons of either passengers or equipment [Music] serving in the u.s and japanese navies these craft literally fly over mines or shallow obstacles that would disable traditional hulled landing craft and with their tremendous over beach performance landing craft air cushions el cacs can land just about anywhere making them incredibly difficult for enemy forces to defend against powered by four gas turbine engines elkhacks rest on a rubber skirt which serves to trap a cushion of air under the craft holding it high above the waves and any obstructions on the land its main purpose is to take troops soldiers from an amphibious ship that is over the horizon and get to the shore as quickly as possible with the largest load of troops as possible with its four turbines providing close to nineteen thousand horsepower el cacs can maintain speeds of over 40 knots for more than 320 kilometers they can also carry payloads of up to 75 tons while this carrying capacity and speed makes them ideal for rapid insertions of troops and hardware the light touch of their air cushion also allows them to serve in mine countermeasure operations but el cacs do have their drawbacks noise and spray levels are high limiting the hovercraft's use in stealth missions and akin to maneuvering a puck on an air hockey table at highway speeds handling is exceedingly difficult with a turning radius of nearly two kilometers and requiring over 450 meters to stop but this experimental craft could be the us navy's ultimate solution in connecting sea to shore the ultra heavy lift amphibious connector you hack for short is a half scale prototype of the vessel that may replace the navy's hovercraft fleet essentially a floating tank the uhac runs on two tracks comprised of dozens of dense air impregnated foam blocks that provide buoyancy as they paddle through the water and traction as they roll across the land while about half the speed of the current fleet of landing craft air cushions the full-scale version of the uhac is proposed to carry loads more than twice as heavy and traveled twice as far and with the ability to scale obstacles as high as three meters the uhac is set to extend the navy's reach even further inland today the large-scale naval technology is giving way to smaller and smarter systems of control over the seaways this is the sea hunter [Music] an experimental unmanned vessel from the defense advanced research projects agency it is poised to patrol the open seas for the us navy guarding against intrusions from enemy subs with its trimaran design affording excellent seaworthiness even in the roughest conditions the sea hunter will brave the oceans alone maintaining a constant vigil so the trimaran shape definitely has advantages in sea keeping you can have a very very slender central hull and some the alcohols set back so it can it can have advantages with the sea keeping performance of those vessels by making the the hulls extremely narrow then you can reduce the amount of power required to propel those vessels going forwards running on diesel propulsion the craft's top speed of 27 knots allows it to keep pace with sprinting subs and its trans-oceanic range of 19 000 kilometers means it can follow its quarry for up to 90 days non-stop highly autonomous the unmanned sea hunter can patrol without human input using optical guidance and radar to reliably avoid obstacles and other craft operationally it will be observed and controlled when necessary by a remotely stationed human unarmed the sea hunter's power is in its ability to detect even the best hidden vessels mid frequency sonar will locate long-range targets with high frequency sonar refining tracking once the hunter closes in built from lightweight radar translucent carbon composite materials the sea hunter will be near invisible to the submarines at storks ruling the waves with intelligent automated technology the sea hunter is a vision of the future navy a future that is already upon us from the age of sail to the age of steam from battleships to aircraft carriers and nuclear subs to alternative and autonomous craft naval vessels have kept pace with the great technological shifts in history and today as ever the naval forces remain at the ready anticipating the next leap in sea going power

Channel: Spark

Views: 830,202

Rating: 4.6537967 out of 5

Keywords: Spark, Science, Technology, Engineering, Learning, How To, education, documentary, factual, mind blown, construction, building, full documentary, space documentary, bbc documentary, Science documentary, aircraft carrier, spark aircraft, nimitz class, super carrier, nimitz class super carrier, uss enterprise, nuclear aircraft carrier

Id: no4bqJ4ILEs

Length: 49min 34sec (2974 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 28 2020