Navy Matters has a discussion going on this morning with regards to what features are essential for a ship that will operate independently. One of the requirements that Navy Matters put forward was for the design to be stealthy.
That gave me pause. In my mind there is only one stealth ship in service today.
The Visby.
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Visby |
You don't have to be a naval engineer or a "stealth scientist" (is that an actual job?) to know that this ship took stealth seriously. I'm not so sure that same care was taken with other so called stealth ships.
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DDG-1000 |
Above you see the DDG-1000. Quite honestly it comes closest to being a stealth ship than the others (excluding the Visby) in service. The UK's Type 45? Seriously? The beast has a rotating billboard at the top of the ship! Even the DDG-1000 has a superstructure that is as tall as a small building, is as flat as a pancake and will spike every radar within range.
I'll dig into this further but I'm leaning in the direction that ultimate stealth for warships is achievable but not worth the costs.
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Sea Shadow |