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Lockheed Grabs a SLICE of the Action
01 Jan 2005
Lockheed Martin's vessel is based on the design of SLICE, a vessel the company designed, built and tested for America's Office of Naval Research. It takes SWATH technology one step further by converting the twin hull SWATH into a four hulled SLICE. The patented design breaks the two long submerged hulls of a SWATH into four smaller pods, each with larger diameters but smaller lengths.
The two fore and two aft pods are offset to minimise their wave making interaction. The result is an underwater hull with the same friction drag as a conventional SWATH but much lower wave drag and much greater speed.
The main benefit of the SLICE hullform technology is that it allows a small affordable ship to exhibit the seakeeping and high speed characteristics of a much larger, more expensive vessel.
Both the SWATH and SLICE designs can be configured in sizes and shapes to fit a variety of commercial requirements. A SLICE technology demonstrator has been in operation for several years.
The boats for PEMEX are designed to 'take the rough out of rough seas', with the smoother ride allowing oil rig workers to arrive feeling healthy and ready to work. Work on the boats is being done in Maryland and California USA, Southampton UK and in the Philippines, with delivery scheduled for the autumn of 2006.
MJ Information No: 20219
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