Setting the High-Speed Ship Technology Roadmap for Naval Power 21: The Center for Innovation in Ship Design

摘要

In the late 1960's and early 1970's, Admiral Elmo Zumwalt, then the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) for the U. S. Navy, had a vision of a 100-knot Navy. As a result, considerable research was invested in developing high-speed craft, such as air cushion vehicles (ACV's), surface effect ships (SES's), and hydrofoils. However, political and economic pressures from a costly Vietnam War and an oil embargo forced cessation of research in high-speed naval ships. Almost thirty years later with the explosion of the global economy and the increasing number of military conflicts in widely dispersed geographical locations, the U.S. Navy is under much greater pressure to maintain a forward presence in an expanding number of locations around the globe. The Navy's present CNO, Admiral Vera Clark, in a recent speech to the Naval War College, shared his vision for a new operational construct that he calls SEA POWER 21, as well as his thoughts on how the U.S. Navy needs to be transformed in order to meet the requirements of the new century. However, the Navy continues to experience decreased budgets for building new naval ships. The result is that the number of ships in our worldwide fleet is decreasing. These political and economic pressures are forcing the Navy to seriously consider much higher speed for the operational requirements of new ship designs and to acquire these new ships at lower costs.