THE INFLUENCE OF NEW TECHNOLOGY ON THE DESIGN AND MANUFACTURE OF HIGH-SPEED CRAFT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO RECENT MONOHULLS, MULTIHULLS, AIR CUSHION VEHICLES AND SURFACE EFFECT SHIPS

摘要

The history of high-speed marine surface craft, and the incentives for developing high-speed craft for commercial and military purposes, are briefly reviewed. Some of the leading technological advances that have influenced the design and manufacture of high-speed surface craft are described with reference to vessels that have recently been successfully built and tested. The use of new materials for hull construction is discussed with examples. Novel aspects of the design of the Finnish Navy's T-2000 ACV are described. Another current design example is a version of the U.S. Navy's Landing Craft, Air Cushion (LCAC) that employs deep-skirt technology. Of particular interest for all hovercraft is the use of new composite fan designs. The development of advanced axial-flow waterjets suitable for matching with the largest available marine gas turbine engines is described. In this connection is the examination of high-speed monohull and multihull displacement waterjet-propelled ships, sponsored by the CCDoTT program at the University of Southern California at Long Beach. Numerous references and an up-to-date bibliography are provided.