Double Singularity Blog

I was playing around in paint for a little while, and come up with some interesting disruptive camouflage schemes for the Zumwalt class destroyers. Of course, the camouflage that is needed today is from radar signature, not a visual bearing, so it is of no real practical use. But as many angles as that ship has, it is calling out for some disruptive camo (and I would like to mention that a Ferris schemed F-117 would be hot, too). Anyway,

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This is more a reference for me more than anything else - I realized that I was checking enough references to perhaps build an awesome display of the 21st century Navy in 1/700 scale by the end of 2008.

As a quick snap shot, here is what we could expect from the US Navy in the next 25 years - assuming that funding works out the way they would like. For brown water operations, you can rely on the Littoral Combat Ship, which currently has two different configurations. The Zumwalt class destroyers and the Virginia class submarines sit slightly further offshore. The San Antonio class amphibious ships will bridge the gap from sand to blue water, where you can find the CV(X) giving air cover and even possibly the CG(X) providing air defense.

Just for fun, though, take a look at what else is going on in the world. Many AEGIS and stealth frigates and destroyers are joining navies worldwide, but the British Navy is doing much to revamp itself. From the Astute class submarines to the just announced Future Carrier (to be developed jointly with the French), to the Type 45 stealth destroyer, Britannia is tired of lagging behind. BAE Systems has also developed a model of the UXF, which will be a drone control ship. To be more correct, the UXF is considered a mothership for unmanned vehicles both airborne and seaborne. I saw a photo of the model that was shown at DSEi, which shows a ship based on the Type 45 destroyer, fitted with an amphibious loading dock and two flight decks, including an adjustable ski jump that the British are so fond of.

Here is a link showing a sketch of the UXF. Also indexed to this link is an article describing the rail gun that BAE built for the Navy - if the DD(X) program is completed, the last ships of the class will be fitted with something twice as powerful as this. *drool*

One of the models that I am working on is a remote control version of DDG-1000, formerly DD(X), and before that DD21. Of course, the Navy has only begun preliminary construction and has quite some time before they lay the keel for the lead ship. This has made researching the design and creating a set of plans to use very interesting. I have started carving a hull form in 1/700 scale, and will use a contour gauge to transfer the hull lines onto paper. At some point, I will try and make my plans of the ship available - but that is a ways away.

I had originally harbored thoughts of having the only working model of the ship - especially if the Navy doesn't go through with building the full scale version. However, while looking around for information to use on my models, I found that there were some other models out there. There is one somewhat functional model, used by Raytheon, to test the hull form. A Japanese magazine about naval ships had a spread about the DD(X), and in one of the preview images you can see a large scale model of the ship.

Here are some other models: 1, 2, 3