A HIGH-SPEED landing craft unveiled this week by the US Department of Defense will not only stay steady at its top speed of 50 knots, but also produces virtually no wake. The vessel, dubbed Stiletto, is the prototype for a new breed of craft designed to carry troops and their equipment ashore without attracting attention.
Stiletto’s hull has a double-M shape that channels the wake under the craft. There it mixes with oncoming air to produce froth that lifts the ship part-way out of the water, reducing drag and increasing stability, says Greg Glaros, the programme’s leader at the defence department’s Office of Force Transformation.…
