U.S. Navy's 'Death Star' Warship Arrives in Key West

BY CAMMY CLARK
[email protected]
The U.S. Navy's sleek new warship turned heads this week with its futuristic appearance as it sailed into Key West on its maiden voyage.

As Commander Curt Renshaw told a tour group Monday, the 419-foot USS Independence looks like ``an ocean-going death star from Star Wars.''

The ship is the Navy's second littoral combat ship, a vessel designed for speed, versatility and maneuverability in coastal waters too shallow for traditional military ships.

``It's a true testament to 21st century technology,'' Renshaw said.

MiamiHerald.com

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4242bfa9d879.jpg[/atsimg]

I thought some of the weapons buffs and military types on ATS might enjoy reading this article about the maiden voyage of the U.S. Navy’s latest ship.

As the picture displays it does like rather Star Wars like but more like one of the Star War Cruisers and not the Death Star. All in all it does have a truly radical design and with the ability to travel up to 55 knots per hour in only 20 feet of water and so automated it requires only a 40 man core crew despite its size, displacement and tonnage it truly appears to be one very formidable ship.

From Key West it goes on to Norfolk for more tests.


[edit on 31/3/10 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

is it called the daeth star? taht is AWESOME!

ships need better names, often people are drawn to the military as an occupation because they can offer nothing else to society and lack the skills to compete in the private sector. They should hire more people to come up with better names for ships like, Godzilla, thors ahmmer, or something similar that is made of win.

reply to post by tigpoppa


Actually the Ship's name is the Independence but the press and Navy are calling its radical new design the 'Death Star' warship.

It represents the next generation of Navy Ship building and eventually they envision a fleet of over 400 of them!

Thanks for posting.

Ummm... Question....

What happened to the *carrier* USS Independence? Did it sink? Get scrapped? I didn't think you could have 2 ships with the same name, so there wouldn't be confusion if one was in trouble, or sank.

Speaking of confused.... I am.

Originally posted by wylekat
Ummm... Question....

What happened to the *carrier* USS Independence? Did it sink? Get scrapped? I didn't think you could have 2 ships with the same name, so there wouldn't be confusion if one was in trouble, or sank.

Speaking of confused.... I am.

My understanding is the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Independence has been decommissioned and has been stripped of all its armaments and is currently up for sale as a potential museum for any organization or state that wants to pay for it’s being tugged (potentially a couple million dollar bill) to a port of their choosing. Even the engines on the boat have been disabled. When last I hear there were no buyers as of yet but a few interested parties, great question.

Pictures and knowlege from this interesting new ship...

www.ussindependenceship.org...

Originally posted by JanusFIN
Pictures and knowlege from this interesting new ship...

www.ussindependenceship.org...

Thanks for posting that.

It truly is interesting, what is most interesting is the Navy feeling a need to operate in a big way in shallow coastal waters of 20 feet or less!

Originally posted by wylekat
Ummm... Question....

What happened to the *carrier* USS Independence? Did it sink? Get scrapped? I didn't think you could have 2 ships with the same name, so there wouldn't be confusion if one was in trouble, or sank.

Speaking of confused.... I am.

Of course they can have two ships with the same name. My dad was on the second U.S.S enterprise, the first one was sunk.

The US Navy will enjoy a spike in its recruiting numbers for simply showing off this badboy in commercials.

[edit on 31-3-2010 by walking_virus]

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler


Cool, the U.S has a star destroyer! New toys and no one to play with...hey Irannnn.

reply to post by SmokeandShadow


There always seems to be a war on somewhere my friend.

Funny how that works out for the Bankers and the Military Industrial Complex!

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
reply to post by SmokeandShadow

 

There always seems to be a war on somewhere my friend.

Funny how that works out for the Bankers and the Military Industrial Complex!

Seriously, I wonder how many mouths that could have fed, kids put through college and small businesses helped, but that kind of talk makes the top one percent cringe.

[edit on 31-3-2010 by SmokeandShadow]

reply to post by Lichter daraus


I meant at the same time. If one sinks, and another ship takes it's place, yeah. I didn't know the carrier was put out to pasture tho- hence my confusion.

Hmm, shallower waters, closer to land, and so closer to Sunburns, etc... So how does this ship deal with the reduced reaction time, if they are going to be closer to land, of threats like these missiles?

Oh, never mind... Shoot FIRST. Preemptive doctrine, yada yada...

reply to post by ProtoplasmicTraveler

After decommissioning, INDEPENDENCE remained in mothballs for five and a half years before being struck on March 8, 2004. During her time in mothballs, ex-INDEPENDENCE was said to have been heavily stripped to support the active carrier fleet, especially the KITTY HAWK-class carriers. Her port anchor and both anchor chains were used on the new NIMITZ-class carrier USS GEORGE H W BUSH. The recycling of parts and the poor material condition of INDEPENDENCE at the time she was retired made a strong argument against retaining her as a potential museum ship. Her sisters Saratoga and Ranger were retained, and remain on donation hold as of 2006. In April, 2004, Navy officials identified her as one of 24 decommissioned ships available to be sunk as artificial reefs.

Source

It would seem not awaiting sale but sunk as a reef if I am reading that correctly.

Umm, i'm no star wars nerd, but i think they should have said it resembles an 'imperial cruiser', not the 'death star'.

The death star is round.

Ha ha the newest most advanced U.S. warship named the U.S.S. INDEPENDENCE, is built in Mobile, Alabama, by an AUSTRALIAN company. Yup, that's independent allright lol....

reply to post by TrueAmerican


Well from what I am gathering these ships can be outfitted quickly with different modules and packages to deal with different contingencies.

Maybe one day it’s putting a squad of marines quickly ashore in Somalia with light armor and helicopter tactical support in a precision raid on pirates or terrorist groups, the next day it could function as a stand off and attack missile platform 20 miles to sea instead of 20 miles off shore.

Of course their speed and shallow water capability makes them great for the war on drugs too.

I wonder how long it will be to the Coast Guard gets one of these.

Thanks for posting my friend.

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler
It represents the next generation of Navy Ship building and eventually they envision a fleet of over 400 of them!

Check your facts lady.

The Navy wants no more than 50 of them (maybe). She is a test ship and is in competition with LCS-1 (FREEDOM). Whoever produced the winner gets to build the rest of them.

Originally posted by TrueAmerican
Hmm, shallower waters, closer to land, and so closer to Sunburns, etc... So how does this ship deal with the reduced reaction time, if they are going to be closer to land, of threats like these missiles?

She's not designed to go alone into that kind of environment.

She would work in conjunction with cruisers and destroyers and rely on them for long range defense. She has an adequate short range defense system that can be reconfigured as needed.