World Millitary Power

Some people are calling it the "pickup truck of the sea." The Navy's joint high-speed vessel Spearhead can haul troops or supplies in a hurry, and it can do it on the cheap.

The 338-foot twin-hull catamaran, the first in its class, departs Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek today on its maiden deployment. The Spearhead's civilian skipper Douglas Casavant says the ship may appear simple - a vast cargo bay wrapped in a shiny aluminum shell - but its potential uses are many.

"Flexibility is probably the ship's greatest attribute," Casavant said.

The Military Sealift Command ship, staffed with 22 civilians, is equipped with 312 airline-style passenger seats. Designed to quickly move troops and their gear, it could also be converted to a hospital ship or used to deliver food, water or construction equipment to areas ravaged by natural disasters.

The joint high-speed vessel is a product of the Navy's recent focus on building "modular ships" - the littoral combat ship being the most notable - that can be quickly reconfigured for different missions.

The Navy tested out the concept by leasing similar vessels, including the high-speed vessel Swift, which was based at Little Creek until last summer.

At an expeditionary warfare conference in Portsmouth last year, Adm. Jon Greenert, the chief of naval operations, said joint high-speed vessels would take pressure off the Navy's overworked fleet of amphibious warships and save the service money in the process.

"As we look out there, we can't just keep building gray hull amphibious ships, that are built and put together for joint forcible entry, to do these lesser but very important missions such as humanitarian assistance and disaster relief," Greenert said.

Casavant offered an example: Back in October, the amphibious transport dock San Antonio - patrolling the Mediterranean Sea with hundreds of Marines aboard - received an urgent distress call. A raft full of North African refugees was adrift in rough seas. The heavily armed Navy ship, which had been dispatched from the Persian Gulf in response to potential crises in Egypt and Syria, changed course and steamed toward the 130 distressed migrants.

The Navy cheered the rescue at sea, part of its mission as a "global force for good." But what if there had been a more inexpensive option?

Enter the joint high-speed vessel. The Navy is building 10 of the ships at a total cost of $1.6 billion, roughly the cost of a single San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock. The smaller ship, with its modest civilian crew, is far less expensive to operate.

The Spearhead - "basically a car ferry on steroids," Casavant said - can top 35 mph when fully loaded, significantly faster than bigger and bulkier warships. It can accommodate more than 300 troops for trips no longer than four days, and has bunk space for about 100 personnel for longer missions. Six inflatable life rafts would allow the ship to quickly rescue up to 600 people at sea.

It can also get closer to shore than most warships. The Spearhead can operate in just 13 feet of water; ships like the San Antonio require at least 23 feet.

Casavant acknowledged that the Spearhead's aluminum hull is more vulnerable than the steel skin of a warship. Other Navy ships could provide an escort through contested waters, and security teams will come aboard the ship as needed. Pirates aren't a big concern - the Spearhead is fast enough to outrun them.

The Spearhead is scheduled to be in the Mediterranean until May, conducting joint training operations with other nations while the crew tests the ship's capabilities. It will return to Virginia Beach for a few weeks midway through its eight-month deployment before heading toward South America.

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