Two
Australian built warships have the Stars and Stripes streaming
from their mastheads.
They are the wave piercing catamarans Joint Venture and Spearhead
built by Incat in Hobart and chartered to the United States Defense
Force. A third vessel is under construction for the US Navy.
The three ships are slightly bigger and younger sisters to the
former HMAS Jervis Bay (Hull 045) which did yeoman service plying
between Darwin and East Timor and which is now in Europe as a
civilian ship.
Joint Venture, which carries the bow number HSV-X1, left her base
at Little Creek, Michigan in late January for her first operational
deployment.
The Navy/Army charter saw Incat fit a helideck to the ship (Hull
No 050) before she crossed the Pacific last year.
