For Immediate Release:
Jan 31, 2005
Media Availability
Date: Friday, February 4, 2005
Time: 11:00 a.m., PST – Tour of vessel
11:45 a.m., PST – Availability with principals
Location: Nichols Bros. Boat Builders, 5400 South Cameron Road, Freeland
(Whidbey Island), Washington 98249
Christening Ceremony
Date: Saturday, February 5, 2005
Time: 12 noon, PST
Location: Nichols Bros. Boat Builders, Freeland (Whidbey Island), Wash.
The Navy will christen X-Craft as Sea Fighter (FSF 1), Saturday, February 5, 2005, during a 12 noon PST ceremony at the Nichols Bros. Boat Builders yard in Freeland (Whidbey Island), Washington.
Journalists will have the opportunity to tour the vessel and interview Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Jay M. Cohen and other representatives of the Office of Naval Research, Titan Corp., and Nichols Bros. Boat Builders during a tour and media availability on Friday, February 4. Media are also welcome to attend the christening on Saturday. Limited copies of B-roll and a produced VNR will be available on site. Additional copies will be available from Titan Corporation. Contact Mr. Wil Williams (wwilliams@titan.com). Still graphics are available from the ONR Image Gallery (www.onr.navy.mil/media).
Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA 52nd District), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, will deliver the principal address. His wife, Mrs. Lynne Hunter, has been chosen as the ship´s sponsor. In the time-honored Navy tradition, she will break a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship "Sea Fighter."
The high-speed, experimental vessel will test a variety of technologies that will allow the Navy to operate more effectively in littoral, or near-shore, waters. Sea Fighter will be used to evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility, and propulsion system efficiency of high-speed vessels and also will serve as a test bed for developmental mission packages. It will serve as a "risk reduction" experimental vessel for Littoral Combat Ship and Deepwater Program concept of operation development at sea.
The keel for the 262 foot-long, 950-ton (light ship displacement), aluminum catamaran was laid in June 2003. The Sea Fighter’s crew will consist of 16 Navy Sailors and 10 Coast Guardsmen. The catamaran has a beam of 72 feet and a navigational draft of 11.5 feet. Two gas turbine engines, 2 propulsion diesels and 2 waterjets will power Sea Fighter to speeds reaching 50 knots.
Date: Friday, February 4, 2005
Time: 11:00 a.m., PST – Tour of vessel
11:45 a.m., PST – Availability with principals
Location: Nichols Bros. Boat Builders, 5400 South Cameron Road, Freeland
(Whidbey Island), Washington 98249
Christening Ceremony
Date: Saturday, February 5, 2005
Time: 12 noon, PST
Location: Nichols Bros. Boat Builders, Freeland (Whidbey Island), Wash.
The Navy will christen X-Craft as Sea Fighter (FSF 1), Saturday, February 5, 2005, during a 12 noon PST ceremony at the Nichols Bros. Boat Builders yard in Freeland (Whidbey Island), Washington.
Journalists will have the opportunity to tour the vessel and interview Chief of Naval Research Rear Adm. Jay M. Cohen and other representatives of the Office of Naval Research, Titan Corp., and Nichols Bros. Boat Builders during a tour and media availability on Friday, February 4. Media are also welcome to attend the christening on Saturday. Limited copies of B-roll and a produced VNR will be available on site. Additional copies will be available from Titan Corporation. Contact Mr. Wil Williams (wwilliams@titan.com). Still graphics are available from the ONR Image Gallery (www.onr.navy.mil/media).
Congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA 52nd District), Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, will deliver the principal address. His wife, Mrs. Lynne Hunter, has been chosen as the ship´s sponsor. In the time-honored Navy tradition, she will break a bottle of champagne across the bow to formally christen the ship "Sea Fighter."
The high-speed, experimental vessel will test a variety of technologies that will allow the Navy to operate more effectively in littoral, or near-shore, waters. Sea Fighter will be used to evaluate the hydrodynamic performance, structural behavior, mission flexibility, and propulsion system efficiency of high-speed vessels and also will serve as a test bed for developmental mission packages. It will serve as a "risk reduction" experimental vessel for Littoral Combat Ship and Deepwater Program concept of operation development at sea.
The keel for the 262 foot-long, 950-ton (light ship displacement), aluminum catamaran was laid in June 2003. The Sea Fighter’s crew will consist of 16 Navy Sailors and 10 Coast Guardsmen. The catamaran has a beam of 72 feet and a navigational draft of 11.5 feet. Two gas turbine engines, 2 propulsion diesels and 2 waterjets will power Sea Fighter to speeds reaching 50 knots.