What are the advantages of M-type ships in the world now? What is the attack power? How fast?

The completion and launching test of the small speedboat "dagger" would not have been a major event in the naval ship industry, but it has attracted a lot of attention in the era of technological innovation because it adopts a new ship type called "M-ship". What kind of ship is M? What are the characteristics? What is the M ship type? M ship type is an innovative ship type design that San Diego M Shipping Company applied for patent. It is called M ship type because the letter M vividly represents the hull structure of this new ship type. It mainly consists of three parts. The middle part of the letter M is the main hull part, which is mainly used to drain water and provide buoyancy for the hull. The two feet of the letter M are the two walls of the hull, and their main function is somewhat similar to the apron of an air-cushion landing craft, which plays a sealing role. The blank part in the middle of the letter M is the air passage. When M boat sails at high speed, the first wave energy generated by the bow part of the main hull, that is, the tip in the middle of the letter M, can compress the air in the air channel and blow it between the two channels. Because the channel is sealed, the air in the channel spirals from the bow to the stern under pressure, forming a closed air cushion, thus lifting the hull, reducing the wake of the ship and enabling the ship to sail quickly and smoothly. From the hull structure, the M-boat is a bit like a trimaran. Both of them are composed of three parts, so the stability of M-boat is better than that of single-body drainage boat. The main hull parts of M boat and trimaran are used to drain water and provide buoyancy, and the fins on both sides can provide a certain balance force for the hull. The difference is that the enclosure wall of M boat can also play a sealing role. In principle, the principle of M boat is somewhat similar to that of sidewall hovercraft. On the other hand, the M-type ship makes full use of the energy generated when the bow is at high speed to form an air cushion to lift the hull, which reduces the air cushion fan system required by the side-wall hovercraft, thus reducing the ship's own weight and increasing the ship's effective load, so that its effective load can account for 43% of the displacement. At the same time, M-ship uses the hull structure to naturally form a sealed air cushion, which reduces the demand for the apron of the hovercraft, thus avoiding the trouble that the hovercraft often needs to replace the apron. As the saying goes, everything has two sides. The M-type hovercraft is not amphibious, just like the side-wall hovercraft, because it has no real air cushion and no soft air cushion like the full-cushion hovercraft. Generally speaking, the waves generated by the bow of a ship during navigation are inevitable, and the wave-making resistance generated by such waves is the main component of ship resistance. When designing a ship, people will try to reduce the waves at the bow to reduce the resistance. M-boat takes a new approach, making full use of the wave energy generated by the bow, converting the wave energy into air pressure, and forming an air cushion under the seal of the enclosure wall, similar to the action of a blower, thus lifting the hull. The air cushion formed by the M-shaped ship makes the hull part leave the water surface, so the contact part between the hull and the water is reduced, and the viscous resistance of the hull is also reduced, which increases the propulsion efficiency of the ship. There is always a peak resistance in the traditional single displacement ship, that is, after the speed reaches a certain value, the ship speed will not increase no matter how the power increases. M boat combines the principle of hovercraft, and does not completely rely on drainage to sail, so it can easily break through the peak resistance, and is not limited by the speed of the drainage boat, and the speed can reach more than 50 knots. Another great advantage of M-boat is its good seaworthiness. Anyone who has been on a high-speed speedboat may know that when the speedboat sails in the undulating waves, it is easy to produce vertical acceleration and form strong vibration, which is generally unbearable and easy to cause personal injury. In the US Navy, injuries or disabilities caused by speedboats are not uncommon. M-boat can reduce the navigation vibration by 50% when sailing at high speed in bad sea conditions, thus greatly improving the comfort of crew. On the basis of M-ship, M Shipping Company further developed the double M-ship. The structure of the double M ship is similar to the combination of two M letters, and the principle is basically the same as that of the M ship. Double-M ship type or multi-M ship type is mainly suitable for large ships, which makes the application scope of M ship type no longer limited to small speedboats. Tests conducted by M Shipping Company show that the lift generated by multi-M ship types can lift a large ship with a length of 45.7 meters and a width of 27.4 meters. The earliest M boat was a 19.8m "water taxi", which was specially designed for sailing in Venice's waterways, mainly to reduce the erosion and damage to Venice's water buildings caused by high-speed navigation. Because it can sail at high speed and reduce the influence of waves caused by navigation, it has aroused the military's interest in this new type of ship. Of course, it is not a simple process for new ship types to change from civilian to military, and not all new ship types are suitable for military use. In order to reduce the technical risks brought by the application of new ship types, the US military will generally choose to build smaller ships, such as the "Short Sword" funded this time, which is 24.4 meters long and 12. 1 meter wide. Constantly investing in new ship types and exploring the military uses of this new ship type not only reserves technology for the future development of American ships, but also promotes the development of new ship types technology. What can a dagger do? It is the consistent practice of the US military to obtain the most advanced technology at the lowest cost. Just like the construction of high-speed wave-piercing catamaran (HSV-2), high-speed catamaran (X-Craft) and electric demonstration ship (sea jet), the US Army Reconstruction Office invested 6 million dollars to build speedboat "Short Sword" just to use it as a demonstration ship of advanced technology to test this new ship type technology. Judging from the performance and characteristics of M boat, M boat will probably have the following uses. Small high-speed combat ships Small high-speed combat ships require high speed, strong maneuverability and good stealth performance in order to destroy enemy ships unexpectedly and evacuate quickly. From these aspects, the speedboat "dagger" has the potential as a small high-speed combat ship. In terms of speed, the "dagger" speedboat can exceed 50 knots, while the speed of the traditional small high-speed combat ship with drainage is generally around 35 knots. Therefore, the speedboat "dagger" has a great advantage in speed, which is very suitable for high-speed surprise retreat. In terms of maneuverability, the "Dagger" speedboat adopts a double-M ship type, which improves the stability and seaworthiness of the ship. The ship uses four Caterpillar diesel engines as the main engine, which has good acceleration performance. In particular, the draft of the "dagger" is very shallow, only 0.9 1 m, which is even shallower than the draft of the rigid inflatable speedboat with a length of 1 1 m used by the US Navy special forces for assault and retreat. Especially in the high-speed navigation and lifting state, the draft of "dagger" is only 0. 15 meters. In addition, the ship uses four surface-cut propellers, which is very suitable for maneuvering in coastal waters. The speedboat "dagger" has good stealth performance. From the appearance, the freeboard of the whole ship is low, except for the comprehensive mast, there is basically no exposed equipment on the ship surface, and the bridge and weapons and equipment are integrated into the hull, which makes the visual signal characteristics of the whole ship small. At the junction of the three corners of the hull, a plane transition is adopted to reduce the probability that the incident wave of the enemy radar will be reflected back to the enemy radar. The hull of the speedboat "dagger" is made of carbon fiber, similar to F-35 and Boeing 787. This material is characterized by high strength and light weight. Compared with ships made of aluminum alloy and steel, it can improve fuel efficiency and reduce the workload of ship maintenance. The composite foam material is filled in the middle of carbon fiber material, which makes the infrared and magnetic signal characteristics of the ship smaller. M-ship's unique ship principle can generate lift and reduce the wake of the ship at high speed, thus reducing the hydrodynamic signal characteristics of the ship. In addition, the "dagger" speedboat has a large open space, and you can choose to install various weapon systems or carry small drones. The speedboat "dagger" can not only carry 12 SEAL commandos, but also carry 1 rigid inflatable boats for secret infiltration and destruction in special operations. The speedboat "dagger" is an all-information ship. The realization of this full informationization benefits from the "electronic keel" laid on the ship. The so-called "electronic keel" is a LAN with a bandwidth of 1G, plus some data storage devices, which makes the ship compatible with different sensors, communication equipment and weapon systems, and also supports the information fusion of the whole ship. Using this advanced "electronic keel", the speedboat "dagger" can be used as a node in the network to provide timely information for the special operations forces sneaking in. As an auxiliary ship, mine ship plays an important role in modern war. For example, in the Iraq War, the U.S. Navy's mine ships played an important role, clearing the way for the U.S. Marines to land in Iraqi ports. After serving nearly 30 Avenger-class and E-class mine warships in the 1990s, the United States has never developed mine warships, and instead focused on the research of new mine warships. For example, the US Navy explored the concept of mine warfare for the high-speed wave-piercing catamaran "Brown Swift" and it was very successful. The "Brown Swift" has officially served in the US Navy's Mine Warfare Command. As a new type of ship, M boat has many advantages. The US Navy will naturally not give up the opportunity to use the M boat as a mine warfare ship, and the speedboat "dagger" does have the potential as a mine warfare ship. When completed, the speedboat "dagger" will be the largest carbon fiber ship in the United States. The advantage of using carbon fiber material is that the ship is light in weight and high in strength. Therefore, the draft of the speedboat "dagger" is shallower than that of the steel ship of the same class, and the magnetic signal characteristics are also very small, so it is not easy to trigger mines. Another advantage of using carbon fiber material is that even after being hit by torpedoes and missiles, the carbon fiber hull is not as easy to form fragments to kill the crew as the steel hull. Moreover, the carbon fiber hull is difficult to completely disintegrate, which can avoid devastating consequences. Secondly, the speedboat "dagger" can not only restrain the bow wave, but also use its own structure to produce air cushion effect, lift the hull, further reduce the draft of the ship, reduce the wake wave when the ship sails at high speed, and reduce the probability of triggering mines. In addition, the M-type speedboat "dagger" is not easy to hit the dike because of its small wake when sailing at high speed, so it is very suitable for high-speed patrol in ports and waterways to provide national defense. At present, the "dagger" has been delivered to the U.S. Department of Defense Force Transformation Office and the U.S. Special Operations Command, and will be used for the first time in a series of exercises codenamed "Pacific Wolf Fish" starting in May 2006. From this point of view, there is no problem in the application of M-boat in small speedboats, but whether a boat has long-term vitality depends on its scale. M Shipping Company is also actively promoting the large M ship type, and is developing a large high-speed ship with a length of 9 1.4M, which adopts the 4M ship type. In addition to being used as an operating platform for helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles, this 4M large high-speed ship can also be used as a short-distance high-speed maritime transport ship, which can carry 500 tons of cargo and quickly transport materials between ports 500 nautical miles away. Because the 4M high-speed transport ship adopts "electronic keel" and the equipment is plug and play, it can be embedded into various communication systems according to its own needs to receive real-time data such as weather and ports. The biggest problem facing M Shipping Company is whether such a large ship can be built with carbon fiber materials. At present, the largest composite ship in the world is the "Visby" class frigate of the Swedish Navy, with a length of only 72 meters. It seems that there is still a long way to go before the M ship becomes bigger.