Go ahead. Make my day, ye scurvy dogs. The U.S. Navy now has a brand new weapon just right for dealing with pirates and other coastal-water threats: the sporty new U.S.S. Freedom, LCS-1. The high-tech, automated craft is 378 feet long, 57 feet wide, with a 12-foot draft, but needs a crew of only 40.
The standard option package includes two Rolls-Royce gas turbine engines, a missle launcher, 57mm gun, two Seahawk helicopters, and 40-ft. high-speed boats. The $50-million ship, based in San Diego, is the first of a fleet of 50 designed to enhance the Navy's ability to deal with shallow-water missions around the world.
And the sucker can do more than 45 knots; that's 52 mph for us landlubbers. Daaaaayum.
"Drive it like you stole it," indeed. Avast!
