HMS Hi-tech, the warship of the future: Royal Navy's Dreadnought 2050 has space-age control room, 'see-through' hull and a crew of just 50 dailymail
Glimpse of the future: Engineers have unveiled a series of images of the ground-breaking vessel, dubbed Dreadnought 2050
Sleek
and stealthy, it resembles something from Star Wars. In fact, this is
what British warships could look like in as little as 35 years.
With
RAF jets already being replaced by drones piloted by men sitting at
computer screens many miles away, the Royal Navy is now investigating
how technology will change the fleet.
The
answer, it seems, could be a generation of largely remote-controlled
seafaring beasts with ‘speed of light weapons’ and a hull that can make
them invisible to the naked eye.
Intimidating: The stunning vessel
would push today's science and engineering boundaries to the limit, but
experts believe there is no reason elements of it couldn't be
incorporated into upcoming designs
The
Dreadnought 2050 seen here is a concept ship that could be controlled
by only five sailors sitting at screens, much like games consoles.
And the entire ship’s company could be as little as 50, which compares to the 200 needed for current vessels of this size.
Concept
images of the ship have been released by a group of leading British
electronic systems companies working with naval defence experts
Startpoint.
The
design includes a new-style operations room allowing commanders to focus
on specific locations and threats thousands of miles away, from the
deep ocean to deep space, using 3D holographics.
The
ship is fitted with speed of light weapons, while the ultra-strong
acrylic hull, coated in a form of carbon called graphene, could be made
see-through.
Worthy of USS Enterprise: The
new-style operations room that would give commanders the ability to
focus on specific zones from up to thousands of miles away
The
triple hull design would allow the Dreadnought to cut through the waves
at high speed, while the sleek lines above the surface, where there are
no obvious gun emplacements, also increase the speed.
There
would be an electro-magnetic gun at the bow, capable of firing
projectiles the same distance as today’s long-range cruise missiles.
At
the stern would be a floodable dock area to deploy troops on amphibious
raiding missions, or release unmanned underwater vehicles to detect
mines.
Innovation: The Royal Navy's fleet
robotics officer believes the designs answer the demand for the defence
ministry to produce an operational edge
Predecessors: The surface ship is named for the original battleship HMS Dreadnought, which entered service in 1906
Above
that would be a large, extendable flight deck and hangar for remotely
piloted drones, many equipped with weapons, which could target the enemy
without putting the crew in harm’s way.
And
along the ship’s sides would be missile tubes for defensive hypersonic
missiles – directed energy weapons to stop small enemy craft loaded with
explosives.
The
outrigger hulls would contain tubes to fire special torpedoes which
travel through water in a near frictionless air bubble that allows
speeds of more than 345mph.
Muir
Macdonald, from Startpoint, said: ‘These concepts point the way to
cutting-edge technology which can be acquired at less cost and operated
with less manpower than anything at sea today in the world’s leading
navies.’
THE NAMESAKE OF THE ROYAL NAVY'S 'WARSHIP OF THE FUTURE' THAT INSPIRED A FLEET - THE DREADNOUGHT
Battle-ready: Dreadnoughts at sea in
the English Channel in 1914, named for the original HMS Dreadnought
which entered into service in 1906
When
the HMS Dreadnought was entered into service in 1906, she represented
such an advance in naval engineering that her name came to be associated
with an entire generation of battleships.
The previous generation of vessels became utterly obsolete, and were given the unfortunate term, ‘the pre-dreadnoughts’.
She
was the first battleship to have a uniform main battery, rather than
having a few large guns backed up by a heavy second battery of smaller
guns.
She
was also the first to be powered by steam turbines, making her the
fastest battleship in the world at the time of her completion.
The
vessel was relegated to coastal defence duties in the English Channel
after Jutland, only rejoining the Grand Fleet in 1918. She was reduced
to reserve in 1919 and sold for scrap in 1923.
