Officials have approved a plan for the Navy to build eight new-generation DD(X) destroyers.
Global Security describes the futuristic warships:
A return to the old tumblehome configuration, combined with wave piercing technology makes the Northrop Grumman DD(X) design as close to a submarine as a surface ship can be, with the lion's share of the structure actually underwater. The DD(X) design is described as 'wave-piercing,' which means that the designers have deliberately foregone the sort of buoyancy which tends to lift conventional ships over waves.
A whole page of DD(X)images is available here.
Well, the DDX destroyer will certainly be a well equiped, massive but nevertheless stealth vessel, but it doesn't really look like a boat : what do the sailors think about it ? and will it be able to use hélicopters for the transport of commandos to the battlefield ?
Posted by: Thierry | Tuesday, February 21, 2006 at 11:07 AM