According to Business Insider, the Sea Shadow is a potentially stealthy warship that was developed during the Cold War. At that time, stealth technology was an indispensable part of the US military, including the US Navy.
The ship's angular design is inspired by the F-117 Nighthawk and is equipped with an invisible paint coating that makes it difficult to detect by electronic devices.
Sea Shadow is the result of a $50 million contract provided by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to Skunk Works ( lockheed Martin's Advanced Development Program) to test the invisible effects on ships and the impact of water on the radar wave absorption coating.
Built under high security conditions, the 50-meter-long ship was assembled in sections before being taken to a sunken barge off the coast of California for completion. It can carry four people, including commander, warship, engineer and captain. The diesel-electric engine system helps the Sea Shadow reach a speed of 15 knots (about 28 km/h).
However, the ship is just a single prototype with limited features. The strange and specialized design makes it less practical than other general contractors in the Navy's fleet, leading to the Sea Shadow never being used.
After nearly three decades in a warehouse at a private shipyard in San Diego, the US Navy has proposed giving Sea Shadow to museums but no one has accepted. It was eventually sold in 2012 at a 95% loss, when the highest bid was just $2.5 million, before being dismantled and destroyed.
However, Sea Shadow still provides important understanding of the application of invisible technology at sea. Lessons from this project have contributed to the development of more advanced stealth ships, such as the Zumwalt class destroyers.
The Zumwalt class destroyers inherit many invisible characteristics of Sea Shadow such as low radar resolution, angular design to increase survival and effectiveness in modern naval warfare.
