The US Navy has decided to cut into metal the unique Stealth ship Sea Shadow, built in the 1980s, according to the Upshot news blog.
Sea Shadow was the first in the family of stealth ships. Stealth technology provides an object in such a geometric shape that would contribute to the maximum dispersion of radar waves. In addition, special materials protect the "invisibility" from radars. Compared to conventional ships, the distance at which it can be detected is three times less, which gives a decisive advantage in combat conditions.
The sides of the Sea Shadow are beveled at an angle of 45 degrees and rest on underwater floats, the bottom of the ship is raised above the water. The ship is additionally protected by a device that creates a cloud of water spray around it, which was supposed to complicate its detection by both radars and thermal sensors. All welded seams on the hull were also covered with a special compound.
Tested Sea Shadow at night to hide the ship from Soviet reconnaissance satellites. But the American fleet could not completely protect their secrets. In 1995, one of the engineers involved in the creation of Sea Shadow was arrested and convicted of selling military secrets.
After several years of testing at the Pentagon, they came to the conclusion that even at low speeds, the ship is easily detected by locators, and no water curtains interfere with this. Therefore, Sea Shadow, which cost $ 195 million to build and operate, represents a dead end in the development of naval technology.
He became famous for his use in the 1990s for the film "Tomorrow Never Dies" from the series about 007 James Bond. According to the plot of the film, which was released in 1997, the stealth ship belonged to the international media tycoon Elliot Carver and, being in the territorial waters of China, was used to provoke an armed conflict between the PRC and Great Britain.
After filming in the film, no other application was found for the experimental ship. The US naval command hoped that some private person would buy it out, but no one was willing, although the Navy's announced decision to destroy the ship sparked a surge of interest in it, in the form of inquiries on the Internet.
Not every private owner could buy Sea Shadow even with the money. You cannot place it in the courtyard of an ordinary house - the ship is about 48 meters long and over 30 meters wide. And it was not kept very carefully. A representative of the manufacturer Lockheed Martin said that no maintenance work has been carried out on the ship over the past four to five years - thus, putting it in order would also fall on the buyer.
In 2009, the issue of transferring Sea Shadow to the museum was discussed, but, obviously, none of the naval museums expressed their readiness to take such a unique exhibit for their content. However, even now all is not lost - the representative of the command of the Navy Chris Johnson said that at the last moment a buyer might still be found.
