Sea Lion

Undoubtedly the wierdest powerboat I've ever seen up close. It went thru the lock at Port Canaveral when I was down there earlier. I yelled to one of the crew and he said it was "Sea Lion -a technology demonstrater". Googling it I found that development was centered in Virginia 2005-2008. So why was it here? I don't know but it was pretty damn cool-and very, very quiet. 71' LOA and about 4' off the water...

 

New PT boat?

 

I believe this was the "proof of concept" model for the Navy for their next generation littoral combat ship. I think it was made at Marinette.

Steve

 

Looks like modern version of Civil war Merrimac.

 

I didn't think the Yankees had radar back then, but you are right.

 

More on the boat: http://www.warboats.org/SeaLion.htm

 

Looks like I missed the building site by a few thousand miles.

 

There are a few more sites like Doug made a link to if you want to know more about this boat. From what I read It is smaller than the boat the Navy Seals have now. The one they use now requires a C-5 to airlift to an area, This one being 71ft Will fit in a C-17 which allows shorter and less developed airfields. The ones they have now are said to injure about 25% of the Seal team due to ride and openness.They have built two of the Sealions for test purposes and say that they are not to replace the older boats, but who knows? Steve