High-Temperature Superconductive Degaussing for Ships

Naval mine strikes are the root cause of 77 percent of U.S. Navy ship casualties occurring since 1950. Most recently, the modern warships USS Samuel B. Roberts, USS Princeton (CG-59) and USS Tripoli (LPH-10) were severely damaged by mine warfare during Persian Gulf conflicts.

With increased operations in the coastal areas, or littorals, of the world’s oceans, U.S. Navy ships face an increasing threat from naval mines. As the mine threat has become more sophisticated, degaussing systems have evolved in complexity.  Copper coil-based systems have impacted ship designs in terms of weight and size requirements. Utilization of HTS technology can alleviate to a large extent the weight and space impact to the ship of legacy degaussing system designs.

The Office of Naval Research embarked on a multiyear discovery and invention  (D&I) research plan after a D&I feasibility study ending in 2004 indicated payoff for the technology. In partnership with the Naval Surface Warfare Center Carderock Division’s Ship Engineering Station Philadelphia, an HTS degaussing coil system was installed aboard USS Higgins (DDG 76) in July 2008.

The new HTS degaussing coil—the first of its kind to be installed aboard a naval vessel—successfully produced a full “coil effect” and delivered the first-ever measurement of a degaussing system using superconductive materials April 1, 2009, as the ship completed a pass over the U.S. Navy Magnetic Silencing Range in San Diego.