The Ultimate Stealth Ship...Why Don't We Have More of Them?

Shhh! I'm a Stealth Ship
August 7, 2024

#navy #sealift #stealth

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Ian Ellis Jones X Thread on MV Ocean Trader

The Ultimate Stealth Ship

The War Zone - Ocean Trader

Ocean Trader: Marine Traffic

A closer look at the Littoral Strike Ship concept

Flensburger

[RichardGeiszler]

"We're just a cargo ship." -- "What's your cargo?" -- "Violence and death."

[zachklopfleisch]

"MV Ocean Trader" has that "hello fellow merchants" vibe.

[sabatheus]

I bet there are like 12 of them, but when one comes into port, we're like, "Yep that's our one ship." 😅

[joefin]

I had a geology professor at a university in upstate NY in the 1970's who was on the Glomar Explorer who tongue in cheek, claimed they were looking for manganese nodules. Those who are informed know they were looking for, and found, sunken Soviet steel.

[javajunky]

The problem with this and the Choest ships is whenever you find one, you know what they are and if you're anyone who matters, you tracking them. But you are spot on we should be looking at multi-purpose vessels like this design. Just keep the regular Navy out of the design, the price will be under control.

[lightningdemolition]

"They have a capacity to carry four whales onboard" we will do anything to avoid having to use the metric system.

[buk]

the British mock-up ones were in part based on the existing Point class RoRo (MV Hurst Point, MV Eddystone, MV Hartland Point, MV Anvil Point [22 year charter by the MoD from Foreland Shipping]) with superstructure added on the aft behind the original superstructure, along with the bridge being expanded and a deck added

[Erah]

they should paint it rusted! like the Oregon II in Clive Cussler's books :P

[whyte]

Morning! Thank you Sal, for letting me know what this ship is. I sailed past it off the coast of the UK about 6 weeks ago. (well it was a few miles away). With no AIS, we were unable to identify it at that distance. Great videos. Keep up the good work.

[thomaspinney]

As a former naval person I kept looking for objections to your concepts. I could not. Actually, you make a great deal of sense. Alas, I fear they will be like the escort carriers of WWII. The navy fought against having them until forced by FDR to build one. Once the shooting started the Navy realized just how useful they were. We built almost a hundred of them by war's end. So, great concept but they will need a powerful champion to overcome institutional resistance.

[theodoreolson]

9:18 When I was commissioned in 1985 we still had a few LST ships. If memory serves we got away from the concept of beach landing ships because of the increasing lethality of weapons down to the platoon level AND their ability to call in air strikes etc. I don't understand what the Marine Corps is thinking to make them feel beaching a ship is an effective strategy. Anyway, thanks Sam. Great stuff.

[captsam]

Agree 100% Built in America and used for almost anything..

[greyjay]

Hiding in plain sight was the idea behind German commerce raiders during WW2.
They not only operated against tankers and freighters, they tangled with Allied
warships, sometimes with devastating effect.

[PrimarchX]

Agreed. I'd like to see something more like the Danish Absalon-class ships. Sort of a hybrid warship that can act as a frigate, expeditionary support ship, hospital and relief ship, etc.

[douglasbanfill]

If I were the president of the US. I would put Sal in charge of all things involving sealift capabilities. Not stepping on the Navy, just making sound decisions when it comes to maritime strategy.

[LackofFaithify]

Converting from whales³ to kg/m³ is always such a hassle.

[Ganiscol]

I believe 'whales' is in the tradition of using the standardized US unit of measurement 'football field', whereas 3 blue whales equals one football field in length. If we talk about weight, the standardized US unit of Boeing 747-400 applies, where two blue whales equal one such plane at max. take-off weight.

Given that the ground dwellers and bird people have their special units of measurement, it is only fair that the seafarers get theirs - the whale! 😅

[NolanPeterson-rhcd]

All Hail Sal the maritime industry Spokesmen bringing attention to the sector via YouTube

[blueskiestrevor]

I was reading a book series recently and the plot heavily featured modified cargo ships. In the book China had secretly added VLS cells to dozens of normal cargo ships. Then at the outbreak of war they used these ships to shower U.S naval and air bases with cruise missiles in a surprise attack. I almost hate mentioning this because it's such a good and terrifying idea if our enemies actually did something like this.

[marchuvfulz]

US did rapid merchant-ship conversion in WWII, most jeep/escort carriers were built that way. But back then we had a large commercial shipbuilding industry.