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HIGH-SPEED MARINE CRAFT

This book details the efforts to build a large naval vessel capable oftraveling at 100 knots. It is the first book to summarize this extensivework from historical and technical perspectives. It explores the uniqueprinciples and challenges in the design of high-speed marine craft.This volume explores different hull form concepts, requiring an under-standing of the four forces affecting the lift and the drag of the craft.The four forces covered are hydrostatic (buoyancy), hydrodynamic,aerostatic, and aerodynamic. This text will appeal to naval researchers,architects, graduate students, and historians, as well as others generallyinterested in naval architecture and propulsion.

Peter Mantle’s long career as a naval architect and aerospace engineerincludes positions as a Chief Engineer and Test Pilot for the firstsurface effect ship (an aerodynamic air cushion craft); TechnicalDirector and Program Manager of the US Navy 100-ton displacementsurface effect ship, “SES-100B,” that set a world speed record of 91.90knots; Director of Technology Assessment, Office of Secretary of Navy(SECNAV), and Chief of Naval Operations (OPNAV) in The Pentagonfor all R&D on aircraft, ships, submarines, missile systems and classifiedprojects; Chairman, NATO Studies on Air, Land and Sea Battles; andChairman, US Delegation to NATO Industrial Advisory Group, ondefense matters for NATO. He is the author of numerous researcharticles and three books: A Technical Summary of Air Cushion CraftDevelopment,Air Cushion Craft Development, and The Missile DefenseEquation: Factors for Decision Making.

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Cambridge University Press978-1-107-09041-5 - High-Speed Marine Craft: One Hundred Knots at SeaPeter J. MantleFrontmatterMore information

http://www.cambridge.org/9781107090415

http://www.cambridge.org


High-Speed Marine Craft

ONE HUNDRED KNOTS AT SEA

Peter J. Mantle






32 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10013-2473, USA

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It furthers the University’s mission by disseminating knowledge in the pursuit ofeducation, learning, and research at the highest international levels of excellence.

www.cambridge.orgInformation on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781107090415

© Peter J. Mantle 2015

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First published 2015

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication DataMantle, Peter J.High-speed marine craft : one hundred knots at sea / Peter J. Mantle.

pages cm1. Warships – Design and construction – History – 21st century.2. Warships – Design and construction – History – 20th century.3. Warships – United States – Technological innovations. 4. Ground-effectmachines – United States – Design and construction. 5. Hydrofoil boats – UnitedStates – Design and construction. I. Title. II. Title: One hundred knots at sea.V800.M24 2015623.825–dc23 2014048657

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To Dr. Scott Carson Rethorst, who with his original work on the

Surface Effect Ship “Columbia,” almost got us there to a practical

one hundred knots at sea






Contents

About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . page xv

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xvii

Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxi

1 The Goal of One Hundred Knots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

1.1 A Brief Outline of the Key Types of Advanced Marine Vehicles . . 21.1.1 Fundamental Types of Hydrofoils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.1.2 Fundamental Types of Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . 7

Amphibious Air Cushion Craft Basic Form . . . . . . . . . 8Non-Amphibious Air Cushion Craft Basic Form . . . . . . 10Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft Basic Forms . . . . . . . . 14

Category A: Wing-in-Ground Effect . . . . . . . . . . . . 15Category B: Ram Wing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18Category C: PARWing-in-Ground-Effect . . . . . . . . . 20Category D: Channel Flow Wing-in-Ground-Effect . . . . 24

1.2 Main Marine Vehicles considered by the US Navy for High Speed 25

2 History of High Speed Ship Development. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27

2.1 One Hundred Knots Under What Conditions? . . . . . . . . . . . . 292.2 High Speed at Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 312.3 Brief History of Hydrofoils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 342.4 Brief History of Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372.5 Modern Day Developments to Achieve One Hundred Knots . . . . 422.6 Early Developments (1916–1930) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

2.6.1 Douglas Warner’s Captured Air Bubble (CAB)Boat (1929) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46

2.7 Dr. William R. Bertelsen’s Hovercraft (1958+) . . . . . . . . . . . . 492.8 Sir Christopher Cockerell’s Developments (1955–1999) . . . . . . . 502.9 Hovercraft Development Ltd Sidewall Hovercraft (1963+) . . . . . 52

2.10 Saunders-Roe Developments (1959–2000) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 532.11 US Navy Amphibious Air Cushion Craft Development (1965–today) 562.12 US Navy Developments in Sidehull SES (1960–1980) . . . . . . . . 59

vii






2.13 The Joint MARAD and US Navy Program on Surface Effect Ships(1967–1970) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

2.14 US Navy Surface Effect Ship Program Office Developments(1969–1980) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61

2.15 Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62

3 The First Surface Effect Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64

3.1 Basic Theory of Channel Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 653.2 The MARAD Surface Effect Ship “Columbia” . . . . . . . . . . . 693.3 MARAD Test Craft “VRC-1” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71

3.3.1 Bow Flap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 763.3.2 Center Channel Flap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 773.3.3 Rear Jet and Jet Flap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78

3.4 Stability & Control Jets and Induced Drag Reduction Mechanism . 80

4 History of US Maritime Administration “Large Surface Effect Ship”Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86

4.1 Nuclear Ship N. S. Savannah . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 874.2 MARAD Hydrofoil Ship Denison Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . 894.3 MARADAerodynamic Surface Effect Ship (Columbia andVRC-1)

Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 914.4 US Department of Commerce “Surface Effect Ships for Ocean

Commerce (SESOC)” Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 924.4.1 Hydroskimmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 944.4.2 Captured Air Bubble (CAB) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 954.4.3 Hydrokeel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 964.4.4 VRC Channel Flow . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 984.4.5 Weiland Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100

4.5 Booz-Allen and MARAD Designs for Surface Effect Ships . . . . 1014.5.1 Booz-Allen Adjustments to Candidate Designs . . . . . . 101

4.6 Conclusions and Recommendations of the SESOC Committee . . 1034.6.1 SESOC Conclusions and Recommendations on Channel

Flow and CAB Concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103Aero-Hydro Dynamics and Control Panel Findings . . . . . 104Speed, Resistance, and Seakeeping Panel Findings . . . . . 105Propulsion Panel Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Hull Panel Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106Operations Panel Findings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

4.7 SESOC Committee Conclusions and Recommendations . . . . . . 1084.8 Ongoing SES Experience While SESOC Committee Was

Deliberating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094.8.1 Amphibious Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1094.8.2 Non-Amphibious Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113

British Sidewall Hovercraft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113Soviet “Sidewall” Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115

4.8.3 Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116Lippisch Wing-in-Ground-Effect Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . 117Soviet Ekranoplan Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118

4.9 MARAD Plans Post SESOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

viii Contents






5 History of US Navy “Large High Speed Surface Effect Ship” Program 121

5.1 MARAD and US Navy Schedules for 100 Knot SES . . . . . . . . 1225.2 Chronological History of 100 Knot SES Program . . . . . . . . . . 1235.3 Postscript . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

5.3.1 SESPO’s Designs for Larger SES in 50 knot Class . . . . . 1425.3.2 “US Navy Successfully Meets All Objectives of High

Speed SES” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1455.4 Summary of the Two Decades of Development . . . . . . . . . . . 146

6 SES-100A and SES 100B Test Craft and the “THREE THOUSANDTON SES” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

6.1 Evolution of Captured Air Bubble (CAB) and Sidehull SES . . . . . 1506.2 Different Key Technologies of the SES-100A and SES-100B . . . . 1516.3 Sidewall, Sidehull and Sideboard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155

6.3.1 Sidehull Shaping of SES-100A and SES-100B . . . . . . . 1586.3.2 Some Additional Comments on Stability . . . . . . . . . . 1636.3.3 Lateral Stability Rules for Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . 167

6.4 Seal System Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706.4.1 SES-100A Rigid Planer Seal Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1706.4.2 Pitch Stiffness of CAB Planer Seals on SES-100A . . . . . 1736.4.3 Sidehull SES-100B Flexible Seal Design . . . . . . . . . . 1756.4.4 The Problem of Flagellation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180

6.5 Structural Design Approach . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1876.6 Engines and Their Arrangement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1896.7 Lift System and Ride Control . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1906.8 Propulsion System Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

6.8.1 SES-100AWaterjet Propulsion System . . . . . . . . . . . 1956.8.2 SES-100B Propulsion System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196

6.9 Comment on the Key Technology Differences between theSES-100A and SES-100B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 202

6.10 Performance of the One Hundred Ton Test Craft . . . . . . . . . . . 2026.10.1 Maximum Speeds of the SES-100A and SES-100B . . . 2036.10.2 SES-100B Performance in Rough Water . . . . . . . . . 2046.10.3 SES-100B Habitability Envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2066.10.4 SES-100B Lift Drag Ratio and Transport Efficiency . . . 2086.10.5 Comment on Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2136.10.6 SES-100B Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2156.10.7 SES-100B Turning Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2156.10.8 SES-100BAcceleration Performance . . . . . . . . . . . 2176.10.9 SES-100B Deceleration Performance . . . . . . . . . . . 2206.10.10 SES-100B Successfully Meets All Program

Objectives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2216.11 The Three Thousand Ton Surface Effect Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

6.11.1 Relationship of 3KSES to SES-100A andSES-100B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 223

6.12 Conclusion of the US Navy High Speed Large SES Program . . . . 225

Contents ix






7 Economic Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

7.1 Declining American Marine Industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2287.2 Direct Operating Costs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2307.3 Bréguet Range Equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 231

7.3.1 The Three Bréguet Efficiencies for Economic Transport . 234Propulsion Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235Aerodynamic Efficiency and Transport Efficiency . . . . . 236Effective Lift-Drag Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237Structural Design Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 238

7.4 What Price Speed? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2427.5 Transport Efficiency of Vehicles since 1967 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2517.6 The Problem Facing the High Speed Ship Designer . . . . . . . . . 2537.7 Acquisition Cost of High Speed Marine Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2557.8 Inflation Indices and Cost Trends Over Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2607.9 Weight and Cost Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

SWBS Group 100: Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 264SWBS Group 200: Propulsion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265SWBS Group 500: Auxiliary Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267Cost Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268Cost of Follow-On Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269Detailed Cost Estimating Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271Group 100 Structure Cost Estimating Relationship . . . . . . . . 271Group 200 Propulsion Cost Estimating Relationship . . . . . . . 271Group 500 Auxiliary System Cost Estimating Relationship . . . 272Frigate Sized SES Cost Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

7.10 Conclusions of Economic Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 275

8 Technical Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277

8.1 Drag of High Speed Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2798.1.1 Cushion Induced Wave Drag (Dwave) . . . . . . . . . . . . 2808.1.2 Aerodynamic Drag (Daero) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2868.1.3 Momentum Drag (Dmom) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Air Flow in Calm Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 288Air Flow in Rough Water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 289

8.1.4 Skirt or Seal Drag (DSK) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Calm Water Skirt Drag (DSK) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291Rough Water Skirt Drag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 292

8.1.5 Sidehull Drag (DSH) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295From Sideboard to Sidehull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 298Sidehull Design for Lower Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301Sidehull Shaping for Performance and Stability . . . . . . . 304Sidehull Lift and Drag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 308Lift and Drag Characteristics of Planing Hulls and Seaplanes 309Flat Plate Planing Theory and Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 310Effect of Hull Deadrise on Lift Coefficient . . . . . . . . . . 319Application of Planing Hull Results to SES Hullforms . . . 321

x Contents






Sidehull Skin Friction Drag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 321Sidehull Wavemaking Drag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 327

8.2 Total Drag Estimation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3288.3 Design Speeds for SES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Speed for Maximum Lift-Drag Ratio (L/D)max . . . . . . . . . . 331Maximum Lift Drag Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 335

8.4 Analysis of the Gabrielli-von Kármán Specific Resistance Curves . 336Aerodynamic and Hydrodynamic “Barriers” . . . . . . . . . . . 338Aerodynamic “Barrier” to Transport Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . 338Hydrodynamic “Barrier” to Transport Efficiency . . . . . . . . . 340

8.5 Comparing Vehicles on Design Speed or Maximum Speed . . . . . 3488.6 Assessment of SES-100B Drag Theory and Test . . . . . . . . . . . 349

8.6.1 Sea States, Wave Heights and Wave Lengths . . . . . . . . 3508.6.2 Drag of SES-100B in Calm Seas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3528.6.3 Drag of SES-100B in High Sea States . . . . . . . . . . . . 3528.6.4 Drag of Sidehulls in Rough Seas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3548.6.5 SES-100B Skirt System Design for Rough Water

Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3568.7 Fan and Cushion System Dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3578.8 Dynamic Similitude and Scaling Laws . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 363

Reynold’s Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Froude Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Cavitation Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 364Cushion Density . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 365Pressure Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 366Flexible Structure Scaling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367

8.9 Some Statistical Scaling Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 368Cushion Length and Cushion Pressure Design Trends . . . . . . 368Total Installed Power and Lift Power Design Trends . . . . . . . 370Transport Efficiency Design Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 372

8.10 Scaling from SES-100B to Frigate Size SES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3758.10.1 Magnitude of Lift Drag Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3788.10.2 Speed for Maximum Lift-Drag Ratio . . . . . . . . . . . . 3798.10.3 Scaling of Transport Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380

8.11 Useful Load, Disposable Load and Empty Weight . . . . . . . . . . 3828.12 Design Efficiencies and Performance Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . 3838.13 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386

9 Navy Military Operations Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 390

9.1 Speed and Amphibious Capability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3929.2 Amphibious Warfare: Past, Present and Possible Future . . . . . . 3979.3 Speed and Stealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 399

9.3.1 Sea Shadow Stealth Ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4059.3.2 The 100 knot Submarine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4089.3.3 Stealthy Surface Piercing Submarine . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

9.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409

Contents xi






10 Advanced Naval Vehicles Concepts Evaluation (ANVCE) Project . 411

10.1 Types of Vehicles Considered . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41510.1.1 The ANVCE Point Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41610.1.2 Common Combat Suites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417

10.2 Point Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41910.2.1 Surface Vehicle Point Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41910.2.2 Air Vehicle Point Designs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 420

10.3 Summary of Technological Issues to be Resolved . . . . . . . . . . 42410.3 1 Selected Key Limiting Technologies in SES and Hovercraft 424

Structural Weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 425“Rule of Thumb” on Impact Pressures . . . . . . . . . . . 429Structural Weights of ANVCE Point Design SurfaceVehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 432Lift Systems Technology for Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . 436Lift Fan Systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 436Flexible Skirt System State of the Art . . . . . . . . . . . 440

10.4 Ride Quality of High Speed Hydrofoils and Air Cushion Craft . . 44410.4.1 Ride Quality Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 444

Motion Sickness Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 445Work Efficiency Criteria . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 446

10.4.2 Ride Quality of SES-100B . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44710.4.3 Variable Geometry Hydrofoil . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44910.4.4 What Price Ride Quality? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 452

10.5 Other Novel Forms Evaluated by ANVCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45710.5.1 Supercritical Planing Hull . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45710.5.2 Double Propeller Transom Configuration . . . . . . . . 462

10.6 Sidehull or No Sidehull? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46310.7 ANVCE Project Evaluation of Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft . 467

10.7.1 The Vagaries of the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46710.7.2 German School of WIG Craft Design . . . . . . . . . . 47110.7.3 Russian School of WIG Craft Design . . . . . . . . . . . 47210.7.4 US Navy Design Philosophy for WIG Design . . . . . . 473

WIG (H) Point Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 474WIG (S) Point Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 477WIG(O) Point Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 479

10.8 Empty Weight Trends for Landplanes, Seaplanes and WIGs . . . 48110.9 Techno-Economic Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 486

10.9.1 Speed for Maximum Range . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48810.9.2 Maximum Speed and Speed for Maximum Range . . . 49010.9.3 Transport Efficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 491

10.10 Conclusions and Recommendations from ANVCE Final Report . 495Surface Effect Ships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496Air Cushion Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496Hydrofoils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496Supercritical Planing Hulls . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 496Wing-in-Ground-Effect Vehicles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

10.11 Assessment of the ANVCE Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 497

xii Contents






11 Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501

11.1 Aerodynamic Underpinnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50111.1.1 Lanchester-Prandtl Lifting Line Theory . . . . . . . . . 50411.1.2 Modifications to Lifting Line Theory for Finite Wings . 50511.1.3 Adaption of Lifting Line Theory to Wing-in-Ground-

Effect (WIG) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50811.2 Simple Theory for Lift and Drag of Wings in Ground Effect (IGE) 51111.3 NASAWind Tunnel Tests of Wing-in-Ground-Effect with No End

Plates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51211.4 Effect of Aspect Ratio on Lift Curve Slope . . . . . . . . . . . . . 521

11.4.1 Effect of Aspect Ratio on Lift Drag Ratio in GroundEffect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 522

11.5 Lift and Drag in Ground Effect with End Plates . . . . . . . . . . 52311.6 Wings in Ground Effect with Air Seals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52811.7 Theory for Wings in Ground Effect with End Plates . . . . . . . . 53311.8 Available Experimental Evidence of WIG with End Plates . . . . 54011.9 Summary of Key Equations for Lift and Drag in Ground Effect . 544

11.10 Choosing Cruise Height for a WIG Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54611.11 Alternate Theories for Induced Drag in Ground Effect . . . . . . . 55111.12 Transport Efficiency of Ekranoplan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55711.13 Alternate Forms of “End Plates” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56011.14 Impact of Wing Loading and Cushion Density on Craft Size . . . . 56211.15 Empty Weight of Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . 56411.16 Military Operations for ekranoplan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56911.17 Aerodynamic Air Cushion or Aerostatic Air Cushion? . . . . . . . 57111.18 Mother Nature Knows Best . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57311.19 Variable Geometry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57511.20 Wing in Ground Effect with Wing-Tip Jet Blowing . . . . . . . . . 58011.21 Bréguet Range for Jet Engine Powered Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . 58211.22 Summary of Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . 584

12 Lessons Learned and Where to Next? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 587

12.1 The “Size-Speed-Mission” Triad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58812.2 Lessons Learned . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58912.3 Domains of High Speed Marine Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59212.4 Outgrowths of High Speed Marine Craft Development . . . . . . 595

12.4.1 High Speed Hydrofoils . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59512.4.2 High Speed and Stealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59512.4.3 Variable Geometry Craft . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 596

12.5 Recommended Avenues to Pursue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59612.5.1 Large Ocean Going High Speed Ships (Next Step) . . . 59612.5.2 Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft (Next Step) . . . . . . 597

12.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 598

Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 599

Contents xiii






About the Author

Peter J. Mantle has been closely involved in hovercraft and surface effect shipdevelopment since Sir Christopher Cockerell first developed the hovercraftwith Saunders Roe, Ltd (now British Hovercraft Corporation) in England in 1956.Mr. Mantle began his career at Saunders Roe, Ltd in 1951. In 1958, after graduatingfrom the College of Aeronautics, Cranfield, England with a Master’s Degree inAeronautical Science (DCAe), he emigrated to Quebec, Canada to conduct upperatmosphere research with Dr Gerald Bull at the Canadian Armament Research &Development Establishment (CARDE) in Valcartier, Quebec. In Canada, hereceived a Master’s Degree in Aerodynamics and Mathematics (magna cum laude)from Laval University, Montreal in 1959. He immigrated to the US in 1960, receivinghis Engineer’s Degree (Ae. E.) in Aeronautics from California Institute ofTechnology (CALTECH), Pasadena, California in 1964.

From 1960 to 1964 he designed, built and was the test pilot of the US MaritimeAdministration (MARAD) first surface effect ship (SES) test craft (VRC-1), basedon Dr Scott Rethorst’s “Columbia” channel flow surface effect ship which was thechosen high speed ship concept by (MARAD) in 1961, to find a new solution to thedeclining US Merchant Marine.

Peter Mantle continued his career in hovercraft and surface effect shipdevelopment by becoming the Technical Director and Program Manager of theUS Navy Surface Effect Ship “SES-100B” at Bell Aerosystems (now BellAerospace) in 1969. He holds the patent for the unique propulsion system(a semi-submerged, supercavitating, controllable pitch propeller system) thatallowed the “SES-100B” under US Navy trials to achieve the world speed recordof 91.9knots on 30 June 1976 displayed in the Guinness Book of Records ofthat year.

In 1975, he wrote the first technical compendium of the technology of hovercraftand surface effect ship work, with a major update in 1980 called “Air Cushion CraftDevelopment” published by the US Navy.

From 1976 to 1978, Peter Mantle was the Deputy Project Officer and TechnicalDirector of theUSNavy’s Advanced Naval Vehicle Concepts Evaluation (ANVCE)Project, a major effort of analyses, model testing and full scale testing of severalcandidates including aircraft, ships, hydrofoils, hovercraft, SWATH ships and surfaceeffect ships, to help theNavy and theOffice of the Secretary ofDefense (OSD)make

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informed decisions on the proper course to follow for future Navy high speed shipdevelopment.

From 1978 to 1984, he was the Director of Technology Assessment in the Office ofthe Secretary of the Navy (SECNAV) responsible for advising on the BasicResearch, Technology and Advanced Development of all Navy vehicles (ships,submarines, and aircraft). This included Special Access and stealth programs.

In 1984, he joined LockheedMarine Systems, part of Lockheed Corporation (nowLockheed Martin Corporation) in Seattle (and later in Sunnyvale, California), asDirector of Strategic Planning and after different assignments became ProgramDirector of the (now declassified) Sea Shadow stealth ship.

From 1989 to 2000,Mr.Mantle was the Chairman of several NATO studies on sea,land and air defense, chairing what became the basis for the current NATO missiledefense plans to protect both Europe and the US from missile attack. From 2003 to2007, Peter Mantle was the Chairman (now Chairman Emeritus) of the USDelegation to the NATO Industrial Advisory Group (NIAG) to advise NATO ona variety of industrial and defense matters before the twenty-six (now twenty-eight)nation Alliance. His book “The Missile Defense Equation – Factors for DecisionMaking” based on that work was published by the American Institute ofAeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in 2004. Peter Mantle is an aerospaceconsultant and resides with his wife Kathleen on Vashon Island, Washington.

xvi About the Author






Preface

The design principles of high speed marine craft are much less established than thewell-established techniques honed over centuries of practice in the design of lowspeed marine craft with their displacement hull origins. High speed marine craftdesign, on the other hand, involves study of different hull form concepts, eachrequiring an understanding of four basic forces resulting in the lift and the drag ofthe craft. These four forces are: hydrostatic (buoyancy); hydrodynamic; aerostaticand aerodynamic. Each of these four forces scale by different laws of physics makingscaling difficult from small models to large ship sizes. The combination of thoseforces applies differently in each case depending on the choice of concept beingconsidered. In a broad sense, for the hydrofoil, the hydrodynamic forces dominate;for the amphibious air cushion craft, the aerostatic forces dominate; for the wing-in-ground-effect craft (WIG), the aerodynamic forces dominate. Coupled with thesedifferent forces, the high speed marine craft must also contend with the physics ofsubcavitating and supercavitating flows in both the hull hydrodynamics and in thepropulsion schemes envisaged.

This influence of the four forces has a significant impact on the size and speed ofthe craft and its use or mission. This intrinsic triad of “size-speed-mission” is a keyconsideration when asking what is achievable in attaining high speed at sea. Thisrelationship is expanded upon throughout the book. Because of these complexinteractions between the various forces and choice of craft concept, the program-matic history of developing high speed marine craft has been somewhat sporadicwith isolated successes among various setbacks caused by both technology issues andprogrammatic stumbles.

Upper limits of low speed marine craft speeds using displacement hulls haveremained relatively unchanged over several centuries with typical values of 25–35knots, depending on ship size and sea conditions. The “speed limits” for high speedmarine craft vary widely depending on the concept selected but speeds from 50 to 250knots covers the experience base under discussion.

Two major thrusts in the US for high speed marine craft were by the USMaritimeAdministration (MARAD) for commercial shipping, and by the US Navy formilitary ships and craft. MARAD conducted two major thrusts; first a surfacepiercing hydrofoil with planned speeds of 60–100 knots and subsequently, a combi-nation hovercraft and WIG design for 100–150 knots. The US Navy also had two

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major thrusts; first, for an amphibious air cushion craft for amphibious assaultmissions with speeds of 40–50 knots (other nations have developed craft with higherspeeds). The second thrust was with a non-amphibious air cushion craft for openocean naval missions of speeds of 80–100 knots. Each of these programs had bothsuccesses and setbacks that are detailed in the various chapters of the book.

It is important to note that speed alone was never the aim of either the MARADor the US Navy programs. The world speed record over water today is 276 knots, soobtaining speed alone over water is relatively “easy” to obtain for special purposeboats. The problem is how to achieve high speed in a commercially viable or militaryuseful ship under water conditions more likely to be found at sea than on a calmwater lake under controlled conditions speeding in a straight line. History docu-ments many false starts over many centuries in high speed ship development toconquer, or at least tame, the “cruel sea” as various ship designs have been tried,tested and failed to get much beyond the 25–35 knot capability of even today’s mostmodern ship designs. In the last four decades, serious effort had been embarkedupon bymany nations to achieve some significant improvement over this 25–35 knot“barrier”. In the 1960s and 1970s as the hovercraft and hydrofoil principles and otherforms of dynamic lift in ship design gained a foothold, the idea of a “100 knot Navy”started to take on a major thrust in ship development. Even though there was nodirect rationale for the specific value of “100 knots” (economically or militarily) thisnumber did provide an important impetus to aeronautical engineers, naval architectsand military planners alike to seek answers in this new territory of “high speed”marine transportation.

The US Navy’s 105 ton displacement surface effect ship “SES-100B” achieved aworld speed record of 91.9 knots for “warships” on 30 June 1976. This was the pinnaclein the decade longUSNavy pursuit of “100 knots at sea” that ended on 9 January 1980with the cancelation of the frigate size 3000 ton displacement surface effect ship“3KSES” program without attaining that “100 knot” goal in a practical design. Theend of this major thrust by theUSNavywas not the result of the fuel crisis of the 1970s(a common misconception), it was due to unresolved technological solutions to com-plex issues in the design of such craft. This book takes a look at the history of thefailures and many successes in the critical two decades of development (1960–1980)chasing the “one hundred knots at sea” capability; first as a means to document thehistory for later researchers to use appropriately, and secondly to identify somepossible avenues to explore in this, as yet, unrealized dream. Along the way, manyvaluable offshoots of technology and designs produced significant findings in othermission areas and in many areas of hydrodynamics and aerodynamics basics for highspeed marine craft design across a broad speed spectrum other than “100 knots”.These are documented in the book. The book contains much previously unpublishedoriginal work on technical solutions, theories, analyses and test data.

The book has twelve self–contained chapters (with ample cross-referencing) forease of documentation for both the historical record and the technical features in thedevelopment of high speed marine craft.

Chapter 1: The Goal of One Hundred Knots. This chapter covers the keydevelopments that have been pursued on hydrofoils, hovercraft, and wing-in-ground-effect craft including the ekranoplan variants and outlines the successfultechnology features used in each of the operational high speed marine craft.

xviii Preface






Chapter 2: History of High Speed Ship Development. More technical detail oneach craft type and programmatic history of the key concepts under discussion isprovided in this chapter.

Chapter 3: The First Surface Effect Ship. The history and technical design char-acteristics of the US Maritime Administration’s program of the Columbia SurfaceEffect Ship Project is given in this chapter.

Chapter 4: US Maritime Administration “Large Surface Effect Ship Program”.This chapter documents the entire program by MARAD for the nuclear ship N.S.Savannah; the hydrofoil HS Denison and the Columbia project to seek improve-ments in the US Merchant Marine. It documents a critical review by independentexperts on the merits of the various candidates for high speed ships for oceancommerce.

Chapter 5:History of US Navy “Large High Speed Surface Effect Ship” Program.This chapter gives a detailed chronological history of all programmatic, political andtechnical achievements in the US Navy program to develop a high speed frigate sizeship for military missions. It contains a postscript of the Navy’s subsequent plans onhigh speed ships for ocean transport and combatants.

Chapter 6: SES-100A and SES-100B Test Craft and the Three Thousand Ton SES.The detailed characteristics of the two test craft, and their Trials data is provided inthis chapter. It covers both performance and stability characteristics as well as sub-system descriptions. It also provides details on how these two craft contributed to thedesign of the 3,000 ton class frigate size surface effect ship (SES).

Chapter 7: Economic Considerations. How the economic requirements of a shipdesign are related to the technical characteristics is provided in this chapter.

Chapter 8: Technical Considerations. This chapter delves into the many technicalcharacteristics of high speed marine craft. It provides detailed derivation of many ofthe key characteristics of high speed ships on both performance and stability para-meters. It includes many experimental results from multiple sources for comparisonwith the developed theories. It provides design tools for determining optimumgeometries for efficient cruise speeds under varying conditions. It treats both hydro-dynamic aspects and aerodynamic aspects of the different hull forms applicable tohigh speed marine craft.

Chapter 9:NavyMilitary Operations Considerations.An important element in thedesign of high speed marine craft for military use is the need to incorporate featuresdriven by military operations’ needs. This chapter develops the military considera-tions for amphibious assault missions and for stealthmissions and outlines guidelinesfor future designs.

Chapter 10:TheUSNavyANVCEProgram.This chapter documents theUSNavyAdvancedNavyVehicles Concepts Evaluation (ANVCE) Project which was amajoreffort to evaluate many surface and air concepts for high speed missions. Theseconcepts included air loiter aircraft, airships, seaplanes, wing-in-ground-effect craftincluding ekranoplan variants, monohull ships, planing hull craft (including super-critical planing hulls), SWATH ships, hovercraft, surface effect ships and hydrofoils.Much original technical work pertaining to these vehicles is documented and servesas a substantial data base for future work.

Chapter 11: Aerodynamic Air Cushion Craft. The chapter covers basic wing-in-ground-effect (WIG) craft; channel flow craft (a combination of hovercraft and

Preface xix






WIG) and ekranoplan craft. Detailed development of the key equations on perfor-mance and other characteristics are provided together with much experimental dataobtained frommultiple sources of wind tunnels and hydrodynamic tow tanks to forma reliable set of design tools.

Chapter 12: Lessons Learned and Where to Next. This chapter pulls together thekey results from the earlier chapters and summarizes the current efforts to guidefuture developments of this fruitful area of high speed marine craft for manydifferent uses, both commercially and militarily.

xx Preface






Acknowledgments

Sir Christopher Cockerell, of course, deserves especial acknowledgment with hisseminal work in originating and developing both the amphibious and the sidehullforms of air cushion craft. Both forms of which have received significant develop-ment in the UK (country of origin) and in the US as well as elsewhere in the world.His sage advice is deeply acknowledged, especially as the author struggled with thelater studies by the US Navy to seek the proper forms of high speed ships. Withoutthe work by such stalwarts in the hovercraft industry initiated in Saunders-Roe onthe Isle of Wight, England (later British Hovercraft Corporation) this book couldnot have been written.

All the folks at Saunders-Roe were pillars in the industry. Dick Stanton Jones(Chief Aerodynamicist and later Managing Director) is especially acknowledgedtogether with Jack Lloyd (Dick’s right arm); Bill Crago and Dave Perry of theSaunders-Roe Tow Tank; Ray Wheeler in the Stress Department (who later tookover from Stanton-Jones as ChiefDesigner); Peter Crewe (Chief of the all-importantProject Office where original ideas including Christopher Cockerell’s hovercraftwere nurtured in the company) and the many other engineers and designers atSaunders-Roe whose names are unfortunately forgotten in the passage of time buttheir help and nurturing of the author as an apprentice at Saunders-Roe in thoseearly years is gratefully acknowledged.

Dr Scott Rethorst and all the engineers and technicians at Vehicle ResearchCorporation, Pasadena, California (Tor Strand, Toshio Fujita, Helge Norstrud,Dr Win Royce, and many others) deserve special thanks for originating and devel-oping the first surface effect ship, the “Columbia” and the test craft “VRC-1” for theUS Maritime Administration. The experience gained by the author in designing,building and as test pilot for the “VRC-1” proved invaluable in gaining insight intothe sophisticated characteristics of wing-in-ground-effect vehicles (WIG) specifi-cally and in high speed marine vehicles generally.

All of the 40 engineers who moved with the author from Buffalo, New York toNew Orleans, Louisiana to design, build and test the world record breaking SurfaceEffect Ship, “SES-100B” deserve special thanks. The cultural shock of moving fromBuffalo to New Orleans was offset by the enthusiasm and excitement of designing,developing and testing such a unique ship. The long and friendly association with EdButler, the liaison officer from the US Navy/MARAD SES Joint Project Office,

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while the author managed and directed the SES-100B Program, made many of thedifficult decisions a pleasant experience.

During the US Navy ANVCE Project, continued discussions on key aspects ofunique marine craft with such stalwarts as Baron Hanns von Schertel, Dott. Ing.Leopoldo Rodriquez, Peter Payne, Peter Crewe, Dr Alexander Lippisch, SirChristopher Cockerell, and many other highly capable engineers and scientists willbe forever appreciated. The team in the ANVCE Project Office: Capt Tom Meeks(Project Director); Cdr “Corky”Graham; Dave Gicking performed herculean taskskeeping such a wide ranging project under control; and their direction, guidance andsupport is deeply appreciated.

Especial acknowledgement is due to Bill Ellsworth at the US Navy David TaylorResearch & Development Center (DTRDC) who sponsored the author’s first twobooks on air cushion craft technology and design in 1975 and in 1980, that laid theground work for this new book on high speed marine transportation and the pivotalsubject of “100 knots at Sea”.

xxii Acknowledgments






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