By
Graham Davis
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Swift
alongside at Garden Island last month.
Photo: LSPH Damian Pawlenko
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The
older sisters of the Hobart-built wave-piercing catamaran HSV
2 Swift, might be ferrying passengers across the world’s
seas, but this 98 metre long ship is a real battle wagon.
She bristles with armaments including a 25 mm bow gun and twin
barrelled 50 cal machine guns. Her ship’s flag even suggests
her bite - “Don’t tread on me” embroidered over
a rattlesnake. Below decks she has a state of the art command
and communications centre.
Her flight deck has the capacity to take Chinooks while her fold
out stern ramp allows for military vehicles to roll into her vast
cargo hold.
The brand new ship, built by Incat at its Hobart facility, was
formally handed over to the US Navy last month.
Swift will serve as an interim mine warfare command and support
ship (MCS) and will support transformational mine warfare modular
mission payload initiatives.
Swift called into Fleet Base East for fuel on August 28/29. She
then headed north for Darwin and Diego Garcia.
En route she completed the fastest ever transit of the Great Barrier
Reef between Cairns and Booby Island.
The catamaran made the 488 km run in 12.5 hours, and average speed
of 39.04 knots. This included the time necesary to slow to embark
and disembark the pilot.
The record run was made transiting the new Fairway Channel that
was reported in the July 17 edition of Navy News.
