The USS Freedom LCS 1 is still laying here in Duluth and is the most unusual ship I have ever seen. Not only is she fast, but stealth is the name of the game. There are no exhaust stacks above, rather exhaust from the turbines and diesel auxiliaries is vented out the sides of the ship through two large holes (maybe 3 feet in diameter) on each side of the ship. (Even though it is a brand new ship, not even officially commissioned yet, there are big black exhaust stains on the sides of the ship.) The super structure slopes inward and upward and is mostly smooth, the only exception being the numerous radomes (satellite antennas?) that protrude atop the ship. Most normal features of a ship have been modified for stealth purposes such as sloped antennas and sloped air intake vents. She is loud also. I have not heard the turbines, but the auxiliary diesels are runing at her berth and can be heard from a distance, even at idle speed. (Sounds like they are V-8s.) That may be because they are vented straight out the sides of the hull. She has a large back door which opens at the waterline of the stern from whence smaller boats can be deployed. She also has a large "side door"on the rear starboard quarter for deploying or retrieving smaller craft. Her primary weapons systems seem to be a 57 mm turreted gun on the forward deck and a large missle launcher just abaft of midships. The aft deck area is a large helipad and she carries two H-60 Helicopters as standard equipment, housed in an internal hangar. Internally, she is has ben designed with modular construction so that the Navy can quickly change the mission or operations of the ship by simply swapping out internal modules for the mission at hand. Of course, there are standard navigation radars on her mast, but above it all is a large weapons/ship-defense radar array, which even while at port in midwestern Duluth is active and rotating ominously and continuously. Like I said, this is the most unusual ship I have ever seen, Navy or otherwise. David Sorenson Duluth, MN ************ On Wed, 29 Oct 2008 08:18:11 -0500 "Rich Gano" <richgano@gmail.com> writes: > At 48 knots she'd better be running straight for the nearest Navy > oiler. > > I am hoping she will show up for an acoustic trial at out range in > the > Bahamas where I occasionally work as a trial director. It will be > fun to > drive it. Will let y'all know if I do. > > Rich Gano > CALYPSO (GB-42 #295) > Southport, FL > _______________________________________________ > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/listinfo/trawlers-and-trawlering > > To unsubscribe or modify your subscription options (get password, > change email address, etc) go to: > http://lists.samurai.com/mailman/options/trawlers-and-trawlering > > Trawlers & Trawlering and T&T are trademarks of Water World > Productions. Unauthorized use is prohibited. > > ____________________________________________________________ Click here to double your salary by becoming a medical transcriber. http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/Ioyw6i3nFN9CFFO0NDMBWZn086hE2TRy7PbgHqYcQsHzU6DmBzDxW8/

Here's some more info about the USS Freedom with pictures: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Freedom_(LCS-1) and some awesome pictures of its launching at: *http://tinyurl.com/6cnv9c* There are other stealth design Navy vessels in the experimental stage, one of which can be seen at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Shadow_(IX-529) When we passed through Norfolk in September and anchored in the area to the west of Old Point Comfort, there was a small trimaran style stealth vessel and another unusual vessel readily viewable by the public at the Navy's dock in the small channel leading back to the anchorage (and the Army operated marina). We've seen several unusual vessels there in years past. <><><><><><><><><><><><>Mozilla Thunderbird<><><><><><><><><><> Bob McLeran and Judy Young Manatee Cove Marina MV Sanderling Patrick Air Force Base DeFever 41 Trawler Melbourne, Florida On 10/29/2008 11:03 AM, David H Sorenson wrote: > The USS Freedom LCS 1 is still laying here in Duluth and is the most > unusual ship I have ever seen.