Sea Shadow (IX-529)
Sea Shadow sailing through Californian waters near San Francisco in March 1999
| |
History | |
---|---|
United States | |
Name | Sea Shadow |
Awarded | 22 October 1982 |
Builder | Lockheed Shipbuilding and Construction Company |
Completed | 1984 |
Acquired | 1 March 1985 |
Out of service | September 2006 |
Stricken | September 2006 |
Fate | Scrapped in 2012 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Stealth ship |
Displacement | 563 long tons (572 t) |
Length | 164 ft (50 m) |
Beam | 68 ft (21 m) |
Draft | 15 ft (4.6 m) |
Propulsion | Diesel-electric |
Speed | 14.2 knots (26.3 km/h; 16.3 mph) |
Complement | 4 |
Armament | None |
Sea Shadow (IX-529) was an experimental stealth ship built by Lockheed for the United States Navy to determine how a low radar profile might be achieved and to test high stability hull configurations that have been used in oceanographic ships.
Development
Sea Shadow was built in 1984 to examine the application of
History
Sea Shadow had a
Sea Shadow had 12 bunks, one small microwave oven, a refrigerator and table. It was not intended to be mission-capable and was never commissioned, although it is listed in the Naval Vessel Register.
Sea Shadow was revealed to the public in 1993, and was housed at the
The
In 2006, the U.S. Navy tried to sell Sea Shadow to the highest bidder;[1][2] after the initial offering met with a lack of interest, it was listed for dismantling sale on gsaauctions.gov.[3] The US government mandated that the buyer not sail the ship and be required to scrap it. The ship was finally sold in 2012.[4][5] Sea Shadow was dismantled in 2012 by Bay Ship & Yacht Company.[6]
In popular culture
In the 1997 James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, media tycoon Elliot Carver (Sir Jonathan Pryce) operated a stealth ship that resembled Sea Shadow's appearance. Christened as Sea Dolphin II in the film, the secret and stealthy floating lair was used as a plot device to attempt to initiate World War III.[7]
In the Strike series, it appears in Urban Strike as a enemy unit and in Nuclear Strike as home base.[citation needed]
See also
- Skjold-class corvette, stealth missile coastal corvette in service with the Royal Norwegian Navy
- Visby-class corvette, a stealth ship currently in service within the Swedish Navy
- Zumwalt-class destroyer
- Sea Hunter
References
- ^ a b c d e Newman, Barry (February 24, 2009). "The Navy has a Top-Secret Vessel it wants to put on display; Sea Shadow and its Satellite-Proof Barge need a home; Plotting in Providence". Wall Street Journal. p. 1.
- ^ "Top-Secret Navy Vessel Needs a Home". Fox News. 2009-02-24.
- ^ "BID DEPOSIT-SEA SHADOW/HMB-1". General Services Administration.
- ^ Time Magazine, May 11, 2012, p. 5
- ^ "Innovative stealth ship sold to Alameda firm for scrap". The Sacramento Bee. 2012-07-06. Archived from the original on 2012-07-10.
- ^ Kurhi, Eric (1 July 2013). "Now tons of scrap, Sunnyvale Lockheed facility's Sea Shadow leaves a stealthy, high-tech legacy". Retrieved 2015-07-31.
- ^ Suciu, Peter (28 August 2021). "Meet the Sea Shadow: The U.S. Navy's Stealth Ship Straight Out of a Bond Film". The National Interest.
This article includes information collected from the Naval Vessel Register, which, as a U.S. government publication, is in the public domain. The entry can be found here.
External links
- Navy news article
- Sea Shadow
- "The Navy Has a Top-Secret Vessel It Wants to Put on Display" by Barry Newman - Wall Street Journal- February 24, 2009
- Virtual Tour of Sea Shadow and HMB-1[permanent dead link]