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ONLY ON NEWSCHANNEL 8
New Revolutionary Navy Ship Unveiled in Alexandria
posted 05/05/09
4:20 pm
The 377 foot long ship is unique in it's modular design, which means the Navy can put weapons and equipment is needs on the ship for a particular mission and then take it off and customize it another way for a new mission. All of the new technology could serve as the blueprint for how future Navy ships are built.
"Normally a ship would either be a minesweeper or they would be a submarine hunter or a surface combatant. We can switch between those roles anytime we want, so we're kind of like a Lego system for the Navy," said Don Langford, fire control chief.
At 40 knots, the 3,000 ton ship can pull 12 million gallons of water a minute, which is the equivalent of draining an Olympic-sized swimming pool in 3 seconds. Normally, a ship of this size has a crew of 300, but with the help of technology, the USS Freedom can function with 40.
"You can actually take these cameras and focus in on gages that you would normally have to have someone go and look at and we can watch them remotely from many different places on the ship," said Langford.
Usually there's someone at the helm to control the ship, but with all of the new technology on the USS Freedom, the sailors can control the ship using joysticks. They can also make a 360-degree turn in place.
She is also one of the first ships to use all electronic charts instead of paper. Sailors can also use an unmanned, remote control boat that can detect other vessels in the waters.
The captain believe the ship is an important milestone for the Navy. "We are the poster child so to speak for what we can do with technology right now and I think in the future, the lessons that we've learned from this ship are going to be applied to the ships that we build in the future," said Michael Doran, commanding officer.
The USS Freedom was ordered when President Bush (web | news | bio) was in office and the Secretary of Defense approved to build 55 of the same model. The ship will be in Alexandria's port for the public to visit on May 8th and 9th before it goes to its home port in San Diego.
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