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The Navy just took delivery of America’s sub-hunting ghost ship: The largest unmanned vessel in the world

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The U.S. Navy just took delivery of the largest crew-less surface ship in the world. The Sea Hunter Anti-Submarine Warfare Continuous Trail Unmanned Vessel, or ACTUV, is a 132 foot long, 140 ton drone warship perfectly suited for hunting down enemy submarines.

In recent years, the role drone aircraft have played in America’s military strategy has continued to expand as technology has improved to allow the U.S. military to leverage more of the advantages allowed by autonomous aircraft in a combat zone. Long loiter capabilities, in particular, have proven invaluable to reconnaissance and even offensive operations, but until recently, these benefits have been enjoyed primarily in the sky. The ACTUV aims to change that.

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  • MickeyTheHead

    but if you were a spy would you tell us 🙂

  • MickeyTheHead

    I think Patton was in love with the idea of Romantic War that in reality rarely exist.

  • romadave

    I am a land lubber. Pardon my ignorance on the subject. But is the look with the outriggers in this case called a ‘wave piercing catamaran’? Is it designed that way because it does not need a large main hull capacity (space for humans) and this would also allow greater stability, buoyancy, speed, etc? Does this shape also allow for less of a radar signature? FWIW I’m not a Chinese spy, I’m just interested in why it looks the way it does.

  • Willard C

    I can see the news headline now “Navy’s new Robot Sub Hunter boarded and hijacked by Central American drug smugglers while on its maiden voyage.”

  • Susan B

    Hopefully this will provide some protection against those mini subs with nuke capabilities that were rumored to be part of Russia’s arsenal. If those are indeed real, they are certainly ones I’d want to be able to locate and track. Glad to hear that our technology is turning out such great stuff.